Late-Season Success
Around here, temperatures creep above 80 degrees well into late September, making it difficult to think about cool weather food like beets and kohlrabi. But since gardeners are always planning ahead, it's time to start thinking about planting late-harvest crops and returning seed to the soil for yet another round of delicious rewards.
The same wonderful vegetables (like radishes, lettuces and beans) that appreciate spring's cooler evenings will thrive when planted in late August to early September, keeping your garden in business past pumpkin season. And consider planting hardy cold-weather vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, carrots, beets, turnips, kale, mustards, spinach and Swiss chard, as well as bulbs like garlic and onions, which will survive even longer.
For the most successful fall garden, try to identify the average date of the first hard frost in your area, and count backwards, planting only seeds whose "days until harvest" fall within this time frame. If temperatures drop quickly in your area, consider planting in raised beds and pots, where the ground stays warmer longer, and can be moved inside in the event of an early frost.
But we don't have to worry about frost just yet, so get out there and keep digging.