Content
Intro
What Fall Garden Plant Should I Sow?
Green Onions
Kale
Radish
Lettuce
Beets
Carrots
Broccoli
Zucchini
Intro
It's Fall! Fall is an excellent time to enjoy the beautiful colors of nature as well as harvest fresh produce from your garden. Fall weather can be unpredictable, so don't wait too long before planting some Fall Garden Plants. In this post, I will tell how you can sow seeds today for a fall harvest - and what else you need to know to create your Fall Harvest.
- Fall Garden Plants: Fall produce is often sweeter than in the summer, and you have plenty of choices. Onions, kale, carrots, radishes - all these can be planted now for a fall harvest. And they come with other benefits too!
What Fall Garden Plant Should I Sow?
Green Onions
Green onions are an easy and inexpensive gardening staple. They grow quickly--their days to maturity are 45-50 days.
Cutting off the green top will allow for more growth at the base of the onion, which is also edible as a scallion or used in cooking dishes such as stir fry, soup stocks, eggs, rice dishes, or pasta sauces later on down the road when they've grown larger. Harvesting now will help them keep the greenery that would have been lost by harvest time had you left them in your garden's soil longer than 50 days.
The taste of home---and they provide fresh, flavorful spring onion greens that cook up well with eggs, rice dishes, or other sides. You can use them whole as part of your meal (try adding to omelets for breakfast!), chopped finely for salad dressing, or sliced thinly to top off tacos and burgers!
Green onions are a versatile crop that can be harvested early for scallions or allowed to grow into full-size green onion plants. Harvesting them before they get too big keeps their flavor more intense and makes it easier to store the greens in your fridge up until you need some fresh spring onion zest! You might even want to try growing them indoors during the winter months: They're easy-to-care-for crops that don't require too much attention but still provide plenty of tasty rewards.
Kale
Kale is a hardy green that can withstand cold temperatures, and in fact, does well with frost. Kale grows very quickly and produces beautiful green leaves for salads or steaming until tender. If kale isn't your thing, try collards instead!
Radish
Radishes are an early-season crop that can be planted now and will grow quickly. Just open up a handful of seeds, sprinkle them in between the rows or pots, cover them with soil and water. Radish roots should come out easily if they’ve sprouted after about two days!
*Tip* - radishes taste better when harvested young, so don't let them get too big before picking.*
You can also grow them in containers. Simply fill a pot with rich, well-draining soil and sow the seeds thinly on top or plant one seed every inch along the row of your container garden bed. Cover lightly with more soil or compost and water thoroughly to keep moist but not soggy. Radishes will be ready for harvesting about four weeks after planting!
Lettuce
Lettuce is the classic Fall garden plant. It's a cool-season crop that can thrive in cooler weather when other plants have given up for the year. Lettuces come in many shapes, colors, and sizes to fit any taste or occasion, from red leaf lettuce to butterheads, green romaine, and crisp iceberg lettuces. If you're looking for Fall harvest ideas, try planting some of these varieties now!
- Butterhead: The large leaves are edible at all stages of maturity, so it's perfect if you want fresh greens throughout Fall. These lettuces will stand heavy rains but will bolt quickly with extreme heat.
- Romaines: This type of lettuce has long, slender green leaves on a tall stalk which gives them its name. This Fall garden plant is best planted in early Fall, and, like butterhead lettuce, it's great for harvesting.
- Crispheads: These lettuces have long heads that are crispy to the touch when mature, and they're perfect for salads! Fall crispheads are planted in Fall to be harvested throughout the Fall season.
- Red Leaf: This lettuce is a favorite for Fall salads, and they also make great filler greens for wraps or sandwiches. They have red leaves on long stems, so it's easy to identify when mature, which makes harvesting easier too!
- Lactuca: Here, you'll find green, purple, brown, and white varieties of this Fall plant that can grow tall with large heads, but these lettuces don't form as much leaf growth near ground level as most other lettuces do (so take care not to step on them!)
Beets
Beets are root vegetables that can be planted now. Fall is a perfect time because it isn't too hot out, but there's still enough sunlight to grow and thrive. Beets can also withstand cold temperatures.
Beet greens or "leaves" should be eaten raw, but they're best cooked like spinach or other dishes that feature leafy vegetables. Beetroots store well, so consider storing some away from your garden zone until next fall!
Carrots
Carrots are a bit of a gamble because the seeds need a lot of moisture, they may do better planted later into August. Either way, carrots need a lot of space for their long roots to grow.
- Provide plenty of water while seedlings are first growing (since it will dry out quickly)
- Mulch to keep moisture in the ground and prevent weeds.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a member of the cabbage family and prefers cool weather with moderately high humidity. Fall broccoli does not produce as many heads per plant, but they are larger than spring harvested broccoli. Fall's milder temperatures allow for better preservation of taste and quality, making it an optimal season for harvesting these vegetables.
.*Gardeners should sow seeds now through September or October depending on your region's climate*
Zucchini
Zucchini is an annual plant in the cucumber and squash family that produces yellow or green squashes. The zucchini can grow up to 12 inches long but are typically harvested when they reach about six inches. Many people grow zucchini in their gardens as they are easy plants to cultivate.
Planting Zucchini now in July will allow you to get a second harvest in the season!
So what are you waiting for? Get out there and plant those fall-harvest plants now! And don't forget to share your favorite tips in the comments below. I'm listening, so tell me how I can help make your garden as beautiful as possible this year.
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