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You are here: Home / Food / Fall Vegetable Gardening for the Win

July 10, 2020

Fall Vegetable Gardening for the Win

If you have never grown a fall vegetable garden before, now is the time to start. Some of the common benefits of planting a fall vegetable garden include:

  • Many Ohio vegetables grow well in cooler weather
  • Insect and disease pests may be less compared to earlier in the growing season
  • A few vegetables like collards and kale have better flavor(PDF)Links to a PDF document. in cooler weather, especially after a fall frost

Why plant a fall vegetable garden in 2020?

  • Gardening offers very minimal risk for exposing people to COVID-19 if social distancing precautions are in place. While those who work in a community garden(PDF)Links to a PDF document., might need to make additional plans to space out from other community gardeners, by design, many garden plots have their own space and gardening can easily be an individual or household project.
  • Spending time outdoors and learning from nature can increase personal health and wellness. While this is important anytime, gardening can be one tool to help decrease added stress during this year.
  • Even if you grow a small number of vegetables, having access to the garden might decrease the number of trips to the grocery store and might increase the number of vegetables you and your family eat. Win-win!

flowerBush Bean Blossom

So, is a fall vegetable garden different than the salsa garden that is currently growing outside my back door? Yes, a fall garden is different because some crops are warm-weather plants and some crops are cool weather plants. In Ohio, it is not unusual for the cool weather plants to grow and be harvested (picked) in the springtime and early summer and then replanted and harvested again in late summer and fall. While I am trying to patiently wait for the warm weather crops in my salsa garden to mature, like tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos, some of the cool weather plants that I planted in late spring, like spinach, radishes, and lettuce, can’t handle the heat and have become too bitter to eat.

spinach

As I start to harvest warm-weather crops, I can also be planting more cool weather seeds like spinach, radishes, lettuce, and kale for a fall harvest. While there is a nice selection of seeds that can be planted, not all Ohio vegetables can be planted in July or August and have enough time to grow for a harvest, a few common examples are tomatoes and peppers. The following seeds can be planted for a fall harvest:  bush beans, beets (for the beetroots or beet greens), carrots, Chinese cabbage, chard, cilantro, collards, kale, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, radish, snow peas, spinach, summer squash, and turnips for the turnip root or turnip greens. For more details on when to plant what seeds this July and August, including a fall seed planting chart(PDF)Links to a PDF document., please visit: go.osu.edu/fallveggarden

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WRITTEN BY: Patrice Powers-Barker, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Lucas County

REVIEWED BY: Melissa J. Rupp, Extension Educator, Family and Consumer Sciences, Fulton County and Amy Stone, Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources

PHOTO CREDITS:

  • Powers-Barker, P. (2020)

REFERENCES:

  • Handling covid-19: Guidance for community gardens. (2019, April 21). North Carolina State Extension. Retrieved 07/08/20 from https://fcs.osu.edu/sites/fcs/files/imce/PDFs/COVID/OSU_Community%20Gardens_COVID-19_042120.pdf
  • Grow what you know. (2018). Ohio State Insights. Retrieved 07/08/20 from https://insights.osu.edu/food/recipe-gardens-work-you
  • Powers-Barker, P. (2020). Gardening as a self-care practice. Live Smart Ohio. Ohio State University. Retrieved 07/10/20 from https://go.osu.edu/gardenselfcare
  • Powers-Barker, P. (2020 updated). Planting a fall vegetable garden. Ohio State University. Retrieved 07/08/20 from https://u.osu.edu/powers-barker.1/2019/07/24/planting-a-fall-vegetable-garden/
  • Voyle, G. (2012). Fall vegetable crops for your garden. Michigan State University Extension. Retrieved 07/08/20 from https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/files/E3172_-_Fall_Vegetable_Crops_for_your_Garden.pdf
  • Woods, A. (2017). A walk in the woods. Live Smart Ohio, Ohio State University Extension. Retrieved 07/08/20 from https://livesmartohio.osu.edu/mind-and-body/woods-485osu-edu/a-walk-in-the-woods-2/

Categories: Food
Tags: covid-19, local foods, nature, salsa, seasons, vegetable garden

Avatar for Patrice Powers-Barker
Avatar for Patrice Powers-Barker

About Patrice Powers-Barker

Patrice Powers-Barker, CFLE (Certified Family Life Educator) implements Ruby Green Smiths’ description of Family and Consumer Sciences, “where science and art meet life and practices.” The Mind and Body topic lends well with empowering families to evaluate their daily habits and to make individual as well as family goals to enact mindfulness and abundance. The “science and art” of mindfulness can be practiced throughout different aspects of life - from work and play to eating or parenting and education. Patrice loves spending time with family, treasuring the four seasons of Northwest Ohio and appreciating the abundance of her local community.

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