Brace yourself… I’m about to say something that might make you drop your trowel: It’s already time to start thinking about your fall vegetable garden.
I know, I know—you’re still rinsing dirt off your knees from planting summer crops. Maybe your tomatoes just settled in, or you’re still wrangling bean seeds like I am. But trust me on this—fall gardening is where the magic continues!
Think of it like snagging school supplies in July—totally early, but oh-so-smart. Early summer is the “golden hour” to plan your cool-season garden, gather seeds and supplies, and get those favorite fall veggies started indoors.
Why a Fall Vegetable Garden?
For many gardeners, the season begins in May and ends when the kids go back to school in late August. But the reality is that we have almost eight additional weeks of great fall weather to grow and enjoy fresh vegetables from our gardens. Why not take advantage of it?
Fewer pests, cooler air temperatures, and warm soil create ideal growing conditions for delicious and nutritious cool-season vegetables. Many vegetables that we plant in the spring, but peter out in summer’s heat, will happily make an encore appearance—favorites like peas, salad greens, and lettuce, to name a few.
However, success depends on planning and preparing now.
Frost Dates are Key, Again
Just as knowing your average last day of frost in spring is crucial for successful planning and planting, knowing the date of the first chance of frost in the fall is equally vital. As the name implies, the date represents the average first day your region may experience frost.
For Coeur d’Alene, Hayden, Post Falls, and Rathdrum, the average first frost is October 5th, with a 50% chance of temperatures reaching 32 degrees. For Athol and the regions north, that date is almost three weeks earlier, on September 16th. Find your local dates here. Now you can begin to understand why early planning is essential!
Top Choices for the Fall Garden
With frost dates in hand, it’s time to decide what to grow. Keep in mind that the fall garden grows differently. Unlike the summer garden, which revels in long, sunny days, the fall garden will experience shorter hours of daylight and, of course, cooler temperatures.
I recommend selecting cool-season crop varieties that mature in 60 days or less and are frost-tolerant; there are plenty of excellent options available.
If this is your first attempt at a fall garden, start small, growing one or two easy-to-grow cool-season crops, such as:
Lettuces: Loose-leaf, cut-and-come-again varieties like ‘Lolla Rossa’, ‘Merlot’, ‘Marvel of Four Seasons’, or ‘Buttercrunch’ all mature in about 45 days. Start indoors.
Hardy Greens and Brassicas: Any variety of arugula, spinach, chard, Asian greens, kale, mustard, or broccoli will shine in the fall garden. Baby leaves can be harvested in as little as 30 days. Most are frost-tolerant. Start indoors.
Root Crops: Radishes, beets, carrots, and scallions are stars of the fall garden. Harvest radishes and scallion tops in 30 days. Baby beets and carrots will be ready in 50 days; plus, you can use beet greens in fall salads. Direct sow.
Herbs: Cilantro loves cool weather, and when planted in late summer, it will be ready just in time for salsa making. Another cool-season herb to try is chervil, a delicately leaved French parsley with a slightly anise-flavored taste—perfect for fall’s roasted chicken. Direct sow or start indoors.
Seed Starting and Sowing
Finding cool-season seedlings to purchase in the summer for fall planting can be difficult. Additionally, many fall vegetables require cool soil for germination and will not thrive if directly sown into hot garden soil—lettuce and spinach are two prime examples.
The best option is to start these vegetables from seeds indoors. Yes, I know you’ve just put away your spring seed-starting supplies, but it will be worth it!
That said, root crops should always be direct-sown, and super-early-maturing crops (30 to 45 days) can be direct-sown once the soil begins to cool in late summer.
Most cool-season vegetable seed packets will list sowing information for both spring and fall. For fall sowing, work backward from your first fall frost date to time your indoor sowings.
Starting seeds indoors in mid-summer through July gives the seedlings enough time and daylight to become established once transplanted and to produce a harvest in the fall.
Keeping Cool-Season Seedlings Thriving in Summer and Beyond
After transplanting or once direct-sown seeds sprout, it’s essential to keep them cool and adequately watered. The secret to success is mulching: spread a two-inch layer of mulch around the plants and between the rows.
In addition to retaining moisture and regulating soil temperature, mulch also helps suppress weeds—a bonus! Chopped straw or pine needles, dried leaves, or grass clippings are good choices; avoid any mulch material that contains herbicides.
Shade is also essential for cool-season seedlings. Consider interplanting among summer crops such as beans, corn, and tomatoes, or on the shaded side of a trellis. You can further protect seedlings with a shade cloth, or a patio umbrella can also work.
Although the need is still far off, it’s a good idea to review your frost protection supplies, such as row covers or low tunnels (which you probably just packed away). Now’s the time to replace any worn frost cloths or gather supplies to create a low tunnel, so you’ll be ready when those chilly autumn nights return.
The Payoff
Yes, it may feel like a continuous cycle of starting seeds and planting, but that’s the nature of gardening, especially if you want to harvest fresh produce long after Labor Day.
Give it a shot and extend your season. With a bit of planning, you can outsmart Jack Frost and make your fall garden just as fruitful as your summer garden. Now pick up that trowel and get going!
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