Fall is just around the corner! Get your fall crops in the ground now for a bountiful fall garden. Here are a few helpful tips…

It’s still plenty hot here in central Ohio, but the dusk comes earlier every day, and it’s easy to tell that fall is on its way. However, this doesn’t have to mean the end of gardening season!

If you love growing your own veggies, in many areas you still have several weeks of growing time, and fall can be a great time for planting cool weather crops.

Cabbages, carrots, leeks, kale, radishes, lettuce, and other salad greens all grow well in cool weather – in fact, many of these crops can’t take the heat, so they do much better in the fall.

Get your fall crops in the ground now, and you can enjoy fresh garden veggies for a few more months to come!

Here are 5 simple tips for planting your fall crops:

#1 – Find Your Average Date for First Frost

Of course, the first frost can come before or after this date, but knowing the average date will help you plan your fall garden. You can find the average frost dates for your area by entering your zip code here: Frost Dates by Zip Code.

#2 – When You Know Your Average First Frost Date, Count Backwards to Today

How many days do you have? This will help you determine what you still have time to plant.

#3 – Pick Plant Varieties that Have a Short Time to Harvest

A shorter time to harvest means that you are more likely to actually harvest your veggies. So if you have a choice between carrots that take 75 days and carrots that take 60 days, pick the 60 day carrots.

#4 – Remember that Some Plants Actually Like the Cold Weather

Unless you live in the far south, you probably don’t have enough warm weather left to plant tomatoes or watermelons because those plants love the heat. But almost everyone can plant lettuce, kale, broccoli, carrots and leeks for cool season production.

#5 – Water, Water, Water

Depending on where you live, it’s likely still quite warm when you sow your seeds for a fall garden. That means you’ll need to be very diligent about watering often (probably daily) until the seeds germinate, and then water the seedlings regularly so the don’t burn up.

Check out the full article at TheGrowNetwork.com…