Starting a Fall Garden

Are you thinking about starting a fall garden? The harvests don’t have to end because the summer does. Take advantage of an additional growing season and start a fall garden. Fill the harvest basket with spinach, carrots, kale, broccoli, and more. 

5 Tips for Starting a Fall Garden

1. Choose the location before starting a fall garden

A winter and fall garden needs sun. Pay attention to how much sun your garden is getting in the fall. Cooler and shorter days and the changing angle of the sun mean areas that once were in full sun may not receive as much. 

Make sure the area you are starting a fall garden in gets 6-8 hours of sun per day for the best chance of success. Less sun will mean slower growth in winter crops. South-facing walls provide an ideal location for starting a fall garden. 

When starting a fall garden, consider the location carefully; an area that gets “too much sun” or requires shade in the summer may be the perfect spot for your fall and winter garden. 

Read this post for more information about how to remove Bermuda grass without chemicals.

2. Get the soil ready before starting a fall garden

Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you. The soil level in your raised beds and garden area has dropped. Why? Organic matter decomposes and needs to be replaced. Before starting a fall garden, refresh the organic matter by adding worm castings and compost. Learn about the benefits of worm castings in this article.

Add lots of compost or raised bed mix to fill the beds back up. Add the compost on top of the existing soil. If you don’t make compost, purchase several different types of compost to add to the beds. 

Learn more about preparing your soil for planting in this blog post.

3. Decide what to plant when starting a fall garden

Find and use a reliable planting guide meant for your area. This blog post can help you find one.

When starting a fall garden in Arizona for the low desert, I recommend this Arizona Vegetable Planting Guide.  This is the guide I follow for my fall garden in Arizona. Follow the planting guide’s recommendations of what and when to plant. Use it as a guide, and adjust accordingly if it is unseasonably warm or cold.

Perpetual Vegetable, Fruit & Herb Calendar shows you when to plant vegetables in the low desert of Arizona and whether to plant seeds or transplants. See it in my shop.

Tips for planting seeds in the fall garden

• Best grown from seeds: beans, peas and root vegetables like carrots and beets.
• When planting seeds, look for short-season varieties if possible. The seed packet will list a “days to harvest”. When you have a choice, choose the seeds with the fewest “days to harvest”. This is especially true if you are planning on succession planting – staggaring planting throughout the season to maximize plantings.
• Seeds may need more frequent watering to germinate if the days are still warm. Once planted, do not let seeds dry out. A dry seed is a dead seed.
• If you live in a hot summer climate like Arizona, start seeds a little deeper than normal as the soil is typically cooler (and more moist) a little deeper down and provide shade.

Tips for planting transplants in the fall garden

• With transplants, bigger doesn’t always mean better. The plant size of the transplant should not be larger than the pot or package; roots may be rootbound. It’s best to transplant small seedlings so they can become accustomed to the growing conditions in your garden.
• Give transplants a day or so to adjust by keeping them in the shade; make sure they are watered.
• If it is still hot during the day, plant the seedlings at night to let them settle in overnight.
• If it is getting cold at night, plant them in the morning to give them the day to settle in before adjusting to the cooler temperatures.

4. Be on the lookout for pests in the fall garden

Aphids and other pests thrive in cooler weather of a fall garden and love the tender new growth of young plants. Pests are attracted to sickly or diseased plants. Keeping your plants healthy is the best defense. For more about preventing pests in the garden organically, read this post. For more information about organic pest control options that work read this post. 

Whiteflies: They come in the late summer and early fall. If the infestation is severe, spray it off with soapy water, especially concentrating on the undersides of leaves. Be sure to rinse plant off afterwards. Treat often until the problem subsides.

Aphids: These tiny insects cluster on members of the cabbage family and annual flowers, often leaving a sticky residue and cause yellowing and wilting. Treat severe infestations with a soapy water solution, spraying off afterwards.

Cabbage worms: Use row covers to protect young plants from moths landing and laying eggs that develop into cabbage worms. If you see holes in the leaves, check undersides of leaves and pick off worms by hand. Consider using BT (Bacillus Thuricide) BT effectively inhibits growth of worms, borers. The bacteria infects their ability to utilize food. 

5. Mulch and water new plants well

As plants emerge and grow, mulch plants with additional compost, shredded leaves or wood chips. Mulching your fall garden prevents weed growth, insulates the soil, helps soil retain moisture, and attracts worms. As the mulch decomposes it will add organic matter to your soil. This article shares information about mulching.

Higher temperatures in places like Arizona may mean you need to water your fall garden more often until temperatures fall. Newly-planted seeds must be kept moist. An automatic system for watering is best. 

A watering system can be as simple as a battery-operated timer with drip line or going to the garden. For more tips on watering your plants, see my Summer Gardening Guide.

I love this system from Garden in Minutes. It waters well and provides a grid for square foot gardening.

Additional fall gardening resources on this blog:

• Fall Gardening in Arizona: Tips for Success
• 10 Easy to Grow Fall Flowers
• 10 Easy Cool Season Flowers to Plant from Seed
• 10 Easy-to-Grow Cool-Season Companion Plants
• Plan Ahead for Spring Blooms: Cool-Season Hardy Annuals

Sources:

The sunlight infographic is patterned after the sun position infographic on this page: https://deepgreenpermaculture.com/2020/03/24/emergency-survival-prepper-vegetable-gardening-part-1-selecting-a-location-for-a-food-garden/

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