Planting a Fall Garden

When most people are planting a garden they think they have only one shot at in the spring.  Well thankfully for unlucky gardeners like me that is simply not the case.  When you are growing a garden in most parts of the United States you can get 2 sometimes 3 crops from the same plot of land depending on how far south you live.  In the midwest where I live if I plan it right I can get two crops of produce from the same plot of land.  ​

This is done by combining two cool season crops like

• Beets
  
• Carrots
  
• Lettuce
  
• Spinach
  
• Radishes
  
• Etc.
  

Or by,

Combining a longer season crop like corn with a cool season that can underseeded into the corn like lettuce, beets or carrots.   

How this works is simple you plant your cool season crop like you normally would but then when is matures and you reach the optimum growth of the plant you harvest the whole thing and then plant a new cool season crop in its place.  The key here is to harvest the first crop when its optimum.  That doesn’t mean when it is largest it can be but instead means when it will have the best flavor and texture.  

The easiest way to do this is keep a calendar of what you plant and when its expected maturity date is. Most cool season crops will reach maturity in around 2 months depending on a lot of factors but that is usually a good rule to follow.  For me this means I will plant my first crop around mid April depending on the year and I will finish up the harvest by July.  I will then plant my next crop from July through around mid August and harvest in September and October.  

Also depending on the crop I can also plant longer season stuff in the spring and still squeeze in a fall crop after it is harvested.  So keep in mind that this is the time of year to be planting your second round of garden crop so that you can enjoy a long harvest in the fall.

For more like this check out other articles on the Green Living Library.    

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