Prepping the Fall Garden

It’s that time of year where you need to start thinking about what goodies you want (and can) grow during the fall season. Here’s what we’ve decided to get planted!

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Some housekeeping items before diving into our set up and plan. There are a few things everyone should do some research on before you begin planting your seeds. As a novice gardener, I thought because I live in a warm environment, I can grow everything year round. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 

Gardening is an actual science! Soil temperatures, duration of light, first frost, nutrients needed vary based on plant, plants have “companions”! If you already knew this, kudos and share the wealth of knowledge. While this post won’t go into all of that detail, I did want to point it out now. Do your research so you’re not putting in energy and resources to growing vegetables or fruit that’s not going to thrive during if planted in the wrong season.

I do live in a mild climate during the fall and winter seasons (Zone 8) so I know I have later frost dates than other areas which is very conducive to growing throughout the year. If you’re not sure of your Zone, in addition to doing some research on all the other items I’ve pointed out, you’ll definitely need to figure out your Zone. It’ll help you determine first frost dates and can help you get a planting calendar situated so you don’t start planting all types of foods that actually won’t grow (or at least grow well).

There are tons of amazing resources on Pinterest that have great printables and resources you can utilize to figure out what you may be able to plant and when you should actually start planting.

This year is our first fall garden! Similar to our spring and summer garden, I’m going to plant as much as I can that I know will grow and just see what happens. 

For us, this first year is all about figuring out what we can grow well and what we might be able to do to improve on our small crops that didn’t grow so well. 

Beginner Tip: Keep track in a notebook (or digitally) of what you planted, when you planted, how much you planted, if you started from seed, and other key notes to help you assess for next season! 

For this year’s fall garden, I’ve planted quite a bit in the hopes of getting a robust and varied harvest. About 2 weeks a go, I started some seedlings that I transplanted into slightly larger containers today. I want everything to develop a stronger root system so that when I do transplant, it’s not as much of a shock to the plant. 

Not everything does well as a transplant and really should be direct sown. Carrots and radishes are a great example of this. It’s probably easier to tell you what we’re not growing but I’ll give you the full list anyways!

• Lettuce Varieties (Butter, Black seeded, and more)

• Sweet Potatoes (from home grown slips)

• Green Beans (will use succession planting for this crop)

• Butternut Squash

• Spaghetti Squash

• Yellow Squash (I hate this veggie but I’ll give it another try)

• Okra

• Broccoli (just enough for myself and my oldest since no one else likes it)

• Cauliflower

• Chard

• Radishes

• Turnips

• Cabbage

• Brussel Sprouts

• Eggplant

• Onions

• Carrots

• Tomatoes (tons of varieties)

• Cucumbers

• Bell Peppers & Jalapenos

Whew! That’s a lot and I’m so excited about it! Now, some of what we’re growing are NOT fall crops. I’ve planted because we’ll be converting a former chicken cage/coop into a greenhouse so we can grow our favorite summer crops all year round. 

STEP-BY-STEP SEEDLING PREP

With all of the big stuff out of the way, below is exactly what we’ve done to prepare for our fall garden!

• Knowledge Base

  1. Identify your zone

  2. List out what you can grow

  3. Determine the companion plants for each (this allows you to draw out where everything will be planted when ready)

  4. Determine timing – when to plant and when to transplant what you’re starting from seed (seedlings need to go through a hardening process before transplanting so take this time into account)

  5. Figure out what needs to be direct sown versus started from seed

  6. Identify your succession crops (crops that produce and die quickly so you can plan to plant successively for a long-term supply – example: green beans!)

• Gather Materials

  1. Good potting soil, compost, and vermiculite. I did a ratio of 25% vermiculite, 25% compost, and 50% soil. If you can get your hands on chicken manure to mix in, this was like farmers gold for us this year! Can’t recommend it enough as a fertilizer. Use with caution because it can make the soil too hot!

  2. Grow trays, growing lights, and pots for transplanting

  3. Seeds, of course! We use heirloom seeds so we can save some from existing crops and plant those in the future but any seed variety is just fine.

  4. Bucket or container to mix your soil and compost easily

  5. Small shovel

• Plant & Up-Pot

  1. Fill your potting trays

  2. Use your finger to poke a shallow hole (or hole of appropriate depth depending on the seed)

  3. Place 2 to 3 seeds in the hole. I recommend planting at least 2 to increase germination. You can cut one to the base of the soil if both germinate. Depending on the fruit/veggie, you can actually separate without doing significant damage to the root system and then you have two plants for the price of 1! Tomatoes have a strong root system that make this plant ideal for separating seedlings.

  4. Top with soil

  5. Water and place under grow lights.

  6. Water daily and don’t forget to turn your grow lights on during the day.

  7. As your plants grow, you’ll need to adjust the light height and prepare for up-potting to give your plants a chance to spread their roots and strengthen up before transplanting. (I transferred some of my seedlings at the two week mark since they’d gotten bigger and I didn’t want all of the roots entangled with one another.)