Plant Now for a Great Fall Harvest

With the days of summer behind us, we can start looking ahead to fall’s offerings: football, colorful autumn leaves, and seasonal gardening. Much of the U.S. may think of the season as a time when plants enter dormancy, but the mild conditions in Alabama and Georgia mean we can enjoy another growing season. 

If you’re planting flowers, vegetables, or both soon for harvest later in the year, the single most important thing to bear in mind is the frost date. For us, that’ll be somewhere around the middle of November. Multiple online sources will provide you with the amounts of time that various seasonal crops require to grow to maturity. Counting backward from your best guess at the frost date will tell you when each crop should be planted. With that in mind, here are some ideas for your fall garden.

VEGETABLES

These recommended planting times are approximations based on multiple sources. Research into your specific local conditions is always a good idea.

Any time in September:

– Broccoli

– Cabbage

– Cauliflower

– Collards

– Kale

– Kohlrabi [can be planted later, as it’s tough enough to withstand frost]

– Onions

Either September or October:

– Beets

– Carrots

– Leaf lettuces

– Mustard greens

– Radishes

– Spinach

– Turnips.

FLOWERS

Planting some flowers that will bloom during the winter and some that won’t appear until spring is the best strategy to keep your lawn full of lively color during multiple weather changes.

– You could keep an incredible display of hues on view all winter just by planting pansies, which can bloom after frost and even light snow. Violas provide a similarly wide range. Ornamental varieties of cabbage and kale may be less colorful, but the differences in their foliage will provide visual contrast.

– Tulips, hyacinths, and daffodils need a few months of cool temperatures underground to get in the mood to bloom. To bring them out into the spring sunshine, plant bulbs in mid-October.

We at Southern Lawns specialize in lawn care, but we’ve picked up a few things about gardening in our region along the way. In a blog post of this length, we can really only scratch the surface of the subject. So if you have questions about gardening, or about your lawn or ornamental trees and shrubs, please contact us. We’re always happy to help.