Fall Garden Plan: Part 2
In part 2 of my fall garden plan series, I share all the fall vegetables we grow that mature faster than Part 1, and thus need less time to be ready in fall which means more flexibility for the home gardener when sowing and planting these crops. These are sowed indoors or direct sowed starting about 8 weeks before last frost, so hopefully this reaches many of you in time for a magnificent quick fall garden this year.
It is especially helpful to lean into these quick vegetables if we miss the window for slower maturing vegetables like cabbage or the sluggish celery, both of which need to be started by mid-June in Minnesota for the most successful and robust fall harvest. Trust me, I’ve tried sowing them in late July and even mid-July with disappointing results, and finally, after years of tinkering, have resigned to sowing fall crops in late Spring as the only way to do it here.
It’s important to recognize that this group of plants if started too soon might bolt or complete their life cycle well before Autumn fully arrives, which is never our goal. Because, tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, and squash. So I’ve learned to hold off on these plants until mid- to late-July, and in some cases August, too.
I continue to eye plantings that are on the decline, places where younger, healthier plants might produce faster and more than what’s currently dragging its heels. Maybe you have a few things that could be cleaned out to make room for some fresh fall crops. Trust me, your October self will be grinning from ear to ear.
Fast-Maturing Brassicas
Cole crops are a broad group of vegetables that vary widely both in their form and what part of the plant we consume as well as their days to maturity. They are an indispensable part of our garden plan because we enjoy eating them so much and they grow so well in the early and late season which helps us make the most of our very short growing season, that come August never feels that short but then in October I am sad to see so many things gone. It’s a delicate balance, a frenzy all summer that is anything but balanced, though with each passing year I strive to find balance amid the demands of the harvests.
Kohlrabi, along with Asian greens and leafy greens like lettuce, arugula, and spinach are my go-to crops for those last-minute fall gardens that need to be planted — like now! Super speedy to mature, this should be ready to eat by early October in our garden. I’ve sowed more just this past week as well for hopefully an extended fall harvest.
The main crops I am sowing later in July and early August for a fall garden include:
Kohlrabi
Mizuna
Broccoli Raab
Bok Choy
Mustard Greens
Tiara cabbage (60 day variety)
These crops all mature within approximately 2 months time, especially when the soils are warm as they are in late summer, so I plan to sow my latest sowing of these about 8 weeks before our average first fall frost (which in my mind is Sept. 30, though it varies year to year) in our typical soil blocks and transplant them about 3 weeks later into the garden.
Itty bitty Asian greens replaced our sweet corn this past week. I sowed these plants on July 22. They are taking off in this moderate August weather and we look forward to their pungent addition to stir fries starting in a few weeks.
I am trying my latest fall cabbage sowing this year; I indoor sowed some Tiara cabbage the third week of July along with the rest of the crops listed above, which you may recall as my favorite mini cabbage that reliably matures in late May for me here. I’ll be curious to see how it grows alongside our Capture, Savoy Integro, and Kalibos cabbages that are all well on their way to heading.
Trusty Carrots
If you’re growing carrots that will mature in 70 days or less, then it’s perfectly fine in our chilly zone to keep sowing those through the end of July, even into the beginning of August if you would be satisfied with baby carrots. The faster you can germinate your carrots, the better because that hastens their maturity.
In full disclosure, I complete all my carrot sowing by the third week in July, earlier if space is open. Sometimes we interplant them before crops complete, and other times we wait and fully reset the beds. Because they can take more than 2 weeks to germinate, it’s best to prioritize carrots for your fall garden. Also, because I believe they are one of the most magical and delicious root crops for a home gardener to grow and enjoy.
Fall Roots: Watermelon Radish, Rutabaga, Turnip, Daikon
Oh the trusty roots. Excepting root maggots and voles who have each been known to decimate my fall plantings in years past, we always seem to have enough to tuck away for winter eating. It could be more robust, but there’s usually a taste of each for late fall and early Winter meals.
Viola daikon are a striking pale purple with streaked pale insides. My favorite way to consume them is fermenting in a salt-water brine and using them as condiments. They also make fabulous additions to cole slaws, sauerkrauts, and kimchi.
I direct sow all these crops simply after a little wiggle with the pitchfork. All these crops generally follow my onions or garlic or one of my earlier successions of brassicas. Like with all brassicas, in the late summer the plants germinate very quickly and establish quite fast, so I do try to time it until after the majority of our heat waves have ended for the season. I tend to give these larger roots as much or more room than carrots, their rows spaced out a good 18”. Because, leaf area. These roots are 50-day varieties so I don’t start to sow them until end of July or early August. I will sow my last row of Watermelon Radish and Daikon this week.
Fall radishes are a real delight fresh, lacto-fermented, or stored for winter consumption like our storage-friendly daikons, black radish, and beauty heart (red meats).
These roots have dense foliage. And it’s this very foliage’s density that directly impacts its happiness and thus the robustness of its ensuing root. So this is another place where I tend to err on more room than trying to cram everything in there and hope for the best. I cringe when I see friends’ leggy radish plants with modest roots, knowing those plants’ potential were diminished by either growing in the shade of their neighbors or by being planted too densely. For more on plant spacing, see my Minimum Plant Spacing Guidelines here.
Especially with my beloved Watermelon Radish I am careful to give them proper spacing. At first it seems silly, but eventually when the plants leaves touch adjacent rows, I know. I know this was the proper plant spacing. I don’t want the plants to be touching each other until they are pretty well developed, meaning they are on their way to producing roots. We had them well past the New Year last winter, and my hope is we can sow an extra row or two.
Leafy Greens
A fantastic fall crop includes all the leafy greens:
spinach
lettuce
arugula
Since we prefer head lettuce, we have already sowed a few dozen heads of lettuce for late summer and early autumn salads. But more recently this week, I started to direct sow arugula, and will continue to squeeze some square footage out of the garden to add some delicious pungency to our fall garden salads. Leaf lettuce, lettuce mixes are a great late summer addition and can be interplanted where space allows; recently I added some head lettuce starts below my now very well pruned tomato plants as plenty of light is penetrating the ground at this time in the season.
Fast Radishes
Quick globe and breakfast radishes can start to be sown again. And again. Be warned, when growing in heat, radishes tend to accumulate heat — in the form of pungency, the mouthfeel that makes a radish taste “spicy”. I have sowed several rows of radishes, all popped up within the week and are due for thinning. I will continue to sow a few rows of radishes probably through the first weekend in September.
Radishes, anything in the 28-32 day maturing range, can be sowed throughout August in zone 4. If you want to push the season, sow a few rows in early September, too. If warm weather persists, your extra trials will be your reward. You won’t know unless you try, and every season bring new results so it’s always good to sow as often as space allows.
Fall gardens include some summery foods. And, as the seasons turn, the summery foods fade and those things we sowed in July and August trickle in and extend our seasons.
As with all things in the garden, find what works for you by trial and error. Give a few varieties a chance across a few different weeks to see how they respond to different times of the season. The real beauty of the fall garden is getting these crops established before the days dwindle, and after that, you have an outdoor refrigerator and grocery store at the ready, awaiting your harvest baskets. I love the slower pace of fall, and it’s made even more special when our garden is chock full of produce in September, October, and into November.