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Many people put their garden beds to rest after the tomatoes have ripened, but that need not be the case. Now is the time to plan and prepare for fall vegetable garden plantings, also called succession planting. It’s a great time to start gardening even if you’ve never grown food for yourself!
If you want to enjoy fresh vegetables from your garden through the fall, start with preparing your soil.
For beds used in the summer, turn them over and add a little fresh compost. For new beds or containers, fill with fresh soil mixed with some compost.
Next up is seed selection. My number one rule for picking seeds is ‘grow what you like’. Columbus locals can still find seeds at Zettler Hardware, garden centers, and Clintonville Community Market. It is perfectly OK to reuse seeds from the spring too.
You can try growing any cool-loving vegetable with a fairly short (45-60 day) maturity. Any of my suggestions below will grow well in containers, provided they are fairly deep (8 inches minimum, more for root vegetables). This year I will grow:
- lettuce*
- spinach*
- kale (Kale is actually even sweeter in fall plantings. Swoon.)
- swiss chard
- broccoli
- endive
- carrots*
- beets*
- herbs* (great for containers that can move indoors after first frost)
*=successfully planted in fall in previous seasons
Other vegetables that would probably work but I don’t love or don’t have space for are kohlrabi, cabbages, turnips, radishes, and cauliflower.
When you have your seeds, it’s time to plant! Use your seed packet and calculate the planting date by subtracting days to maturity from first frost date. In Columbus, the average first frost is in the first week of October. I will start seeding in mid August.
Water well just after direct seeding and keep watered until you see seedlings appear. Then, water when the soil is dry below 1/2 inch under the surface.
Harvest leaf vegetables (lettuce, spinach, chard, kale, etc.) by cutting leaves regularly. After you cut, they will continue to produce new leaves.
Root vegetables can be left in the ground until a solid frost. Some people actually put straw down and just dig out their carrots and beets all winter long. I prefer to pick them after a certain point, don’t wash, and store in plastic bags in the refrigerator. Carrots lasted for months this way last year!
Follow plans like this and you can expect to still be eating greens and other goodies through November at least.
Great article. Let us know how the broccoli does planted from seed late — and when you plant it. I harvest the main heads, and then I wait for the side shoots to grow, and harvest them, but I’ve never started a fall planting of broccoli, and I’d love to how it works here in Columbus.
Thanks for the great advice.
Good timing! I’m about to plant my fall veggies. Learned a lot about how much of each thing I need – I’m not going to need an 8′ row of Swiss chard again… I’m going to attempt to grow favas and scarlet runner beans, generally a cool weather crop. No idea how that will go. Also, tat soi, lacinato kale, turnips, radishes and arugula. I think I’ll transplant my chartruce broccoli to the other bed, as it’s getting crowded out by zucchini.
Yep! Great article indeed.
It’s time for me to p/u my fall veggies. I usually do several types of lettuce and some spinach. If you’re lucky, you still have tomatoes coming on and can enjoy them with your fresh grown greens, usually not an option in the Spring!
This is perfect for our little patch of garden, now that our zucchini plant totally failed and we have an empty plot in the yard. How much space would carrots take up? I have an opening that’s about 2′x2′ in good, rich soil. Would that get all overgrown and take over the adjacent hot peppers and chives?
If you plant the carrots about 1″ apart in all directions and then thin as needed, I don’t think they’ll overcrowd anything. The tops are tall but spindly.
Thanks for the responses. :)
Turbo ninja – carrots fit in almost any space. Like joev said, thin them when the tops grow about a foot tall. You can even eat the thinnings if they are big enough.
If you live on the southwest side of Columbus, the Franklin County Commissioners have opened their first community garden at the site of the former Children Services location near the intersection of Gantz and Frank Road. More info here: http://www.FranklinCountyOhio.gov/CommunityGarden
I’m having trouble finding seeds in Columbus. I’ve tried Strader’s, Baker’s Acres, even Lowe’s. Any ideas?
I haven’t tried Zettler’s yet.