Eating Local: Planting Your Fall Garden
[photo by Wanko]
Fall is getting close. The official first day is September 22nd, but right now is the perfect time to get your fall food garden going! This is a wonderful time for gardening, with pleasant weather and fewer bugs around than the summertime. There are all sorts of great, hearty veggies that thrive in cooler weather!
Fall Veggies
Good vegetables for a Fall garden are ones that can withstand cooler weather. Cruciferous vegetables do well. So do root veggies and certain greens. There are even edible flowers you can plant this time of year! Here is a quick list of veggies that love the Fall as much as I do.
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- broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- cabbage
- carrots
- cauliflower
- green onions
- kale
- lettuce
- peas
- radishes
- spinach
- Swiss chard
- turnips
- pansies
The plants that do best vary by location, of course! The National Gardening Association is a great resource for discovering what will do best in your area. They have a fantastic tool that gives you tips based on your zip code!
How Does Your Garden Grow?
You don’t need a big backyard, or even a backyard at all, to grow some great veggies! In fact, a container garden allows you to drag your less hearty plants indoors when there is a frost. If you have a porch or patio, just make sure that your pots are large enough to let your little veggies spread their roots! Take a look at the spacing that each plant calls for, and get a pot with plenty of room.
You have no porch at all, you say? Don’t despair! You can start an indoor herb garden on a sunny windowsill! Create a Simon and Garfunkel garden in small pots: parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme! Chives and salad greens will also do well in a 6″ pot in a sunny windowsill.
Happy planting!
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[...] I wrote about growing your own fall vegetables. For some folks, though, that sort of thing is just not an option. Another great way to eat local [...]
Confused. I see planters in Philadelphia filled with cabbage during the winter. It is clearly possible to grow the cabbage here, even in Dec/Jan/Feb. But when I searched the Nat’l Gardening web site with my zip code, it said I should enjoy blueberries (I do, thank you). I am in the mid-Atlantic region. What can I grow and how far into the winter can I expect it to last? Where else can I determine this?
MJB
I wouldn’t eat the ornamental cabbage you see growing in Philly!
For info on what you can grow when in your area, go to http://www.yougrowgirl.com, and ask your question on the forum. It’s the best gardening blog/forum I have found.
I’m a little bummed the only things I can grow in my little apartment (with no patio) are herbs and lettuce. I checked out http://www.yougrowgirl.com and they said tomatoes might be a possibility, but my hubby hates tomatoes. Do you think strawberries would work? I get a good amount of morning sun, facing east.
Strawberries need quite a bit of space, though I’ve never grown them myself. Maybe in a hanging pot, so the vines would have somewhere to go? There are definitely things beyond tomatoes that you can plant in smallish, windowsill containers, though! Carrots and radishes come to mind.