Beech Tree News Network

The end of summer doesn’t have to mean the end of the growing season. Now is the time to plant a fall vegetable garden and fill your pantry with cool-season crops well into late autumn. Some of the best quality vegetables are produced during fall’s warm days and cool nights. These environmental conditions add sugar to late-season sweet corn and cool crops, such as cauliflower and cabbage and crispness to carrots.

Fall vegetables are harvested after early September. They consist to two types: the last succession plantings of warm season crops, such as corn and bush beans and cool season crops that grow well during the cool fall days and withstand frost.

When planting a fall garden, group crops in the same way you would in the spring plant so taller plants don’t shade out shorter ones. To encourage good germination, fill each seed furrow with water and let it soak in. Keep the soil moist until seeds have germinated. Cool nights slow growth, so plants take longer to mature in the fall than in the summer.

The following vegetables can be successfully seeded or transplanted now for fall harvest: beets, Bibb lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, endive, leaf lettuce, kale, mustard greens, spinach, snow peas and turnips.

For more information about planting a fall garden, contact the Butler County office of the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.

Educational programs of the Cooperative Extension Service serve all people regardless of economic or social status and will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, creed, religion, political belief, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expressions, pregnancy, marital status, genetic information, age, veteran status, or physical or mental disability.

 Source: Rick Durham, extension professor, UK Department of Horticulture

Greg Drake II

Butler County Kentucky Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources

Farm Organization Director, Kentucky Association of County Agriculture Agents

270-526-3767