People get dismayed when their summer garden is over. Not me. Although I miss my tomatoes and pepper plants sagging with all that fruit, I look forward to fall gardening. October is one of the best months for your garden because the temperatures are mild, there are fewer pests to deal with, and you get an abundance for your delicious salads and soups.
Now that the weather is cooler for both plants and gardeners, you need to prepare the garden for fall and plan for spring ahead. It is the perfect time to plant spring bulbs, root vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, leafy greens, and trees while the soil is still warm.
I have a small balcony garden, and even though it seems small, it does provide me with an abundance of food. While my hot peppers are still producing a lot of fruit (so thankful for these spicy plants that I am going to overwinter), I have already started my fall garden with kale, Swiss chard, beetroot, broccoli, arugula, and a handful of types of lettuce.
Towards the end of the month, I will be preparing my garden for garlic planting. To help beginner gardeners, here is a guide to fall planting including how to prepare for spring and what to plant right now for the fall garden.
Why Should You Start a Fall Garden?
Nicole Burke, garden consultant and owner of Gardenary, says that fall is the perfect time to start a kitchen garden. Nicole has built over 290 kitchen gardens and inspired over 335K people to grow whatever they could within limited spaces to help with food sufficiency. While there may not be many plant stores advertising planting choices in October or November, there are many plants, including fruit trees and spring flower bulbs that need to go in the ground in fall so they have time to settle in before coming up in the spring.
As for edible plants, root vegetables and leafy greens grow well in cold season as there is less chance of bolting (or going to seed due to high heat) or getting eaten by pests.
Nancy Ondra and Stephanie Cohen mention in their book Fallscaping: Extending Your Garden Season into Autumn, “The more we accomplish in fall, the less hectic things will be in the garden next spring…It’s prime time for setting out new plants, moving those that are out of place, and planting bulbs to brighten our gardens next year. It’s also a super opportunity for stocking up on new plants at clearance sales, dividing overgrown clumps, taking cuttings, and sowing seeds.”
Also Read: 10 Simple Tips to Prepare Your Garden for Fall Season
What to Plant in Your Fall Garden
If you didn’t succeed in your previous fall planting endeavors, you are either choosing the wrong plants or getting the process started a bit late. To help you foolproof your fall garden, I have listed 10 plants you can plant right now for the best results.
Spring-Blooming Bulbs
Spring-blooming bulbs are a sight to behold but you need to start them right now during fall. It is the peak time to plant your spring flowering bulbs like tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses, etc. You can find these online or in local garden stores. You can further look up your gardening zone and plan and plant accordingly.
What to Plant
- Tulip
- Daffodil
- Hyacinth
- Allium
- Gladiolus
- Iris
- Freesia
- Crocus
When to Plant
When planting spring-blooming bulbs, you need to wait until the night temperatures are steadily at 50 degrees or below for about two weeks. This waiting period will give the soil a chance to cool down so your bulbs don’t emerge too early and die off as the cold days are near.
You need to plant the spring flower bulbs about six weeks before the first ground-freezing frost arrives, allowing the plants to take root and get established. For an idea, you can do this in October in northern regions and November or later in warmer climes.
Cool-Season Annuals
Cool-season annuals are great for fall planting as they put on their best show when everything else turns color and falls to the ground. These flowers remain vibrant throughout November and longer. These plants tolerate frosty evenings and can withstand temperatures down to the mid-20s. You can plant violas, pansies, cornflower, etc. in the season and enjoy their blooms when the weather turns gloomy.
What to Plant
- Violas
- Pansies
- Dianthus
- Snap Dragon
- Sweet Alyssum
- Cornflower
When to Plant
If you are buying these plants from a local nursery, you can get them in the ground as soon as they become available. But it is best to wait until the daytime temperatures are steadily below 80 degrees. The cool-season annuals that can be grown from seed are best sown in the late summer.
Cool-Season Vegetables
Cool-season vegetables are the best-tasting ones as they do not lose their flavor or life to hot days and you don’t have to struggle as much to keep them alive. You can start on your fall vegetables from seed toward late September or get transplants from local garden centers in October. Some cold hardy vegetables include leafy vegetables like lettuce, mustard, spinach, and arugula and root vegetables like radishes, beets, and turnips. You can also plant garlic and onions in the fall.
What to Plant
- Lettuce
- Mustard
- Spinach
- Arugula
- Radish
- Beetroot
- Turnip
- Garlic
- Onion
When to Plant
If you are planting your fall crops from seed, you need to plan to determine how long it will take the seed to germinate and reach maturity. You need to see the days to maturity for each seed and count backward from the average date of the first hard frost in your region. As the growth rate of the plants slows down as the days shorten, you need to add a week or two to determine your sow-by-date.
Also Read: An Expert Guide on How to Care for and Maintain Garden Tools
Tips for Fall Planting
In fall, you can plant anything from spring-blooming plants to leafy greens and root vegetables. The thing you must take into account is the weather and gardening zones in your region to determine how much time your seedlings have till you can harvest. If you know the estimated date of your first frost, you can plan when to sow the seed or get your seedlings outside in the ground. When you know what to plant, when to plant, and how to plant it, your fall garden will thrive.
If you encounter obstacles, do not lose heart. Even the best of us fail sometimes. I have on countless occasions killed lettuce, which is very easy to take care of, trust me, I should know. So we learn through our failures and relish in the smallest joys like seeing a hoverfly or a butterfly roaming in our gardens. So don’t lose heart if things don’t turn out the way we plan. Enjoy the unexpected and keep planting.
I will talk to you fellow gardeners soon. Happy gardening!
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