Fall Vegetable Gardens

Fall vegetable gardens are a great way to extend the fun of gardening, and be able to get a few more vegetables in before the winter months roll around. Surprisingly, preparing for a fall vegetable garden is much like getting any other garden ready. You need to plan, prepare, plant, and preserve your garden. Here are a few guidelines that you can use to help ensure that you have a successful fall vegetable garden.

• Plan the garden. When planning for your fall vegetable garden the biggest thing that you need to worry about is timing. Unlike with summer and spring gardening, with fall vegetable gardens you have a limited amount of time. This means that you need to choose plants that will grow quickly, and know when to plant your garden. You need to know when the average date is for the first fall frost in your area, then look at how long it will take to grow and harvest your plants. Begin the preparations for your garden accordingly.
• Prepare your garden. Begin preparing your garden by first removing all of the old plants that you have in there. Remove any plant that is no longer growing, or that have become sick, or that you may have already harvested. Discard each of these plants properly, and then begin to till the ground, and mix in some compost or other fertilizer to help out.
• Plant the garden. For the most part, when you plant a fall vegetable garden you will do it in the same manner as you would throughout the rest of the year. However, there is one major difference in that you need to be planting crops that will grow quickly, and well in the reduced temperatures of the fall. Some examples of these plants are things like beets, green onions, lettuce, arugula, and cauliflower. If there are other plants that you are interested in planting, then you may want to consider starting the plants indoors and then transplanting them into the garden when you plant your seeds.
• Preserve your garden. Keep an extra close eye on your plants. The reason for this is that you may already have a pest or disease in your garden that you may not already know about. React immediately at the first sign of any problem. On the average you may want to take a look at your garden on a daily basis to ensure that no problems crop up unannounced.