The Art of Fall Gardening

This year’s Fall gardening season is about to begin! Or, if you’re starting seeds, then it’s already underway.

The key to this season is knowing your hardiness zone and your frost dates. Per the usual. It’s different for all of us (hence why I created The Kitchen Garden Society) and takes some practice. I do a mixture of starting seeds and also planting seedlings, depending on the plant. The ideal would be to start everything from seed, but I don’t quite have enough space, so that is a challenge.

This year I’ll be spacing my planting out a lot and starting some Fall veggies while I transplant the last of the summer veggies. However, we should land on the below design.

What I’m starting from seed:

• Broccoli
• cabbage
• Calendula
• Nasturtium
• Beets
• Carrots
• Radish
• Spinach
• Fava beans
• Potato

What I’m buying from a nursery:

• Arugula
• Lettuces
• Asian Greens
• Endive
• Cauliflower
• Kale
• Pansies/ violas

The balance that I’m trying to strike is one where the heat germinates seeds and promotes growth in seedlings, and yet doesn’t kill the plant or have it bolt. The later the better for planting (ie: October) though waiting too long gives us too short of days. So, it’s a bit of a pickle in my zone, 10B.

As of now (early August), we are going to test some lettuce under shade cloth, as well as get some of the above seeds started so that they can be transplanted early October.

The Fall Gardening Plan:

There are a few summer things left on here that I will decide on later, and some herbs that are staying put or going in now. Also, we will add snapdragons as soon as I see them at the nursery. I grew them last fall and loved them, but stock is a great alternative that I may consider as well. Both are edible, which I really like.

I hope this is helpful and gives a fun look inside the madness over here. Autumn is my favorite season for living and growing in, so I simply can’t wait for cooler temps!