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Start A Tradition Series: 10 Quick Tips For Fall Vegetable Garden

  • Writer: Karen Hand Allen
    Karen Hand Allen
  • Oct 10
  • 3 min read

Getting your garden ready for fall planting needn’t be a headache or overwhelming. A few simple tips and techniques can help you start a tradition that will give you and your family years of healthy eating and untold joy in the future!

Garden with lettuce and carrots and other goodies being grown.
Karen's vegetable garden

1. Start a tradition of gardening for Fall & Spring planting to enjoy year round vegetables, fruits and herbs.

  • Carrots and green onions on a black countertop near a sink, set against a wooden floor. Fresh and vibrant colors stand out.
    Karen's goodies from her garden

  • Keep it simple, mind you, we’re not experts, we’re just sharing what works for us.

    Karen stands next to her climbing roses.
    Karen with her climbing roses in her garden.

  • Make sure a water source is nearby-with garden hose or irrigation system.

  • Gather equipment:

    • Gardening gloves

    • Spade

    • Rake

    • Shovel

    • Hand trowel 

    • Garden soil, and Compost for vegetable and herb beds-we do compost but now also buy Compost Soil ready to go.

      Bag of organic garden compost on grass, labeled Calloway's Nursery. Text emphasizes soil replenishment. Green and white colors.
      Karen's compost of choice

    • Bark Mulch for the top layer of beds.

    • Fall seeds and plants

Gardening supplies on a wooden table: seed packets, plant food, gloves, and daffodil bulbs. Bright green chairs accent the scene.
The seeds Karen enjoys planting for her fall garden.

  1. Prepare planting beds-we built a raised bed that is 16X7 that we’ve had for many years. It’s not big but provides us bountiful crops each spring and fall.

  2. Vegetable garden with rows of lush green and purple leafy plants, surrounded by a wooden frame, on a grassy yard. A sense of growth.
    Karen's fall garden.

    • Raised beds are better for growing fall vegetables, it heats up and stays warmer in fall and spring.

    • Use Garden Soil, add Compost and Organic matter, such as manure, peat and leaves.

    • Use Nitrogen rich soil-the three numbers on fertilizers are the relative content of  nutrients-Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium, in that order. Since compost and organic matter add nitrogen, we use fertilizers sparingly but use Osmocote Flower and Vegetable Smart Release plant food year round. It feeds up to four months and works for us as we plant fall and spring gardens. 

Plant food, gloves, etc sitting on a table.
Karen's plant food

  1. Dress for outdoor weather in your area: hat, gardening clothes and shoes are a must. Wear comfortable, loose fitting shirts and pants, closed-toe shoes, water resistant boots or even clogs, and add a hat for reducing sun exposure.

Two straw hats rest on a green couch. One is light with a white cord, the other is darker with a brown cord. Wooden floor and chairs in the background.
Examples of gardening hats

  1. Buy Fall bedding seeds or plants and plant according to USDA’s plant/hardiness zone map. We’re in zone 9b, it allows a long season in which to grow but it’s hot in summer!

  1. Plant what you love and ALWAYS prepare the soil first: 


  • Clean up Flower, Tree beds, and Vegetable gardens. Wear gloves and use a rake and hand trowel:

  • Remove weeds, dead plants, and debris.

  • Loosen soil and add Compost 2-4 inches in depth and wood Mulch on top of composed soil to keep beds from drying out. After a time, the mulch will break down to enrich the soil with nitrogen and other vital nutrients even further.

  • Look up which zone you are in. We are in Zone 9b and plant according to this. 

  • For bulbs and flowers, we plant in October and November: Plant Daylilies, Chrysanthemums, Ornamental kale, Fall Asters, and Amaryllis.

Purple flowers with green leaves in focus, set against a blurred green background. The mood is serene and natural.
Sky flowers from Karen's garden
Pink trumpet-shaped flowers with white and pink striped centers bloom among green leaves, set against a lattice fence and soil. Bright daylight.
Pink trumpet vine from Karen's garden

  • For Fruit trees- we plant fruit trees in the fall due to less need for watering during the dormant season. They get a jump for the spring this way.

  • We have Plum, Peach, Avocado, Pear, Mexican Lime, and Meyer Lemon trees. 

 

Peach tree with ripe fruits and green leaves under a deep blue evening sky, illuminated to highlight the vivid colors.
Karen's peach tree

  • For Vegetables in raised beds like ours-sow seeds in late summer, we do in late September, early October to harvest them fall through spring. They need at least six hours of direct sunlight per day.

  • For Fall Vegetables we plant-

  • Kale 

  • Collards and mustard greens

  • Spinach 

  • Carrots 

  • Beets 

  • Turnips 

  • Lettuce 

  • Radishes 

  • Broccoli

  • Shallots and onions

  • Cabbage

  • Brussels sprouts

  • For Herbs plant:

  • Chocolate mint 

  • Catnip 

  • Thyme 

  • Sage

  • Basil 

  1. Take lots of pictures as your garden grows and produces vegetables, fruit and herbs, you will get a kick out of the results.

  2. Fall garden beginning to sprout.
    Karen's fall garden sprouting.

  1. Get your family involved in planting and harvesting, it enriches the experience, and everyone wants to eat some of what you’ve grown! 


  1. Invite friends to pick and eat something wonderful with you.

  2. Karen holds a big mustard green leaf.
    Karen with her big mustard greens.

(Check out my mustard greens recipe on the blog)


  1. Enjoy your harvest and share with neighbors, it is rewarding and will warm your heart. Happy Harvest!

  2. A clear bag of mixed vegetables, including tomatoes, green beans, and a cucumber, sits on a wooden table next to a yellow squash.
    Karen's goodies from her garden

1 Comment

Elise
Oct 13

Love this!

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