10 Easy to Grow Vegetables for your Fall Garden is a post that will help you decide what to plant for the easiest, best yield for a successful Fall garden. Read on for the list and for some helpful resources perfect for beginners!
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Confession Time: You may remember me saying that despite being a canning blogger I don’t have a garden. I don’t have a garden yet because I have a 12 foot hand-dug well that likely wouldn’t support a big veggie garden. I have no fences and many wild creatures great and small that would love to eat whatever I planted, and truthfully, I haven’t the thumb for it at this phase of my life. My kids are little and I recently killed the pretty pink cactus in my shower. I have been growing sprouts in a mason jar on my countertop BUT, Wildflowers, I have friends in high places indeed.
My friend Teri Page of the blog Homestead Honey is an amazing gardener and I asked her to share her best gardening tips for us in a guest post. She knows her stuff, has the right thumb for the job, and has written a fantastic post (with a rad resource at the end! Don’t miss it!) for you all. I’m so grateful for her expertise. Read on for her post; thank you Teri!
10 Easy to Grow Vegetables for Your Fall Garden
Fall gardening is a great way to increase your harvest, save money at the grocery store, and enjoy garden-fresh produce year-round, but if you’re new to fall gardening, it can feel a bit overwhelming! What do you grow? When do you plant it? What about frost? Today I’ve put together a list of my top ten easy to grow vegetables for your fall garden, and I invite you to check out my eBook, Homestead Honey’s Guide to Fall Gardening for step-by-step advice on how to select the best varieties, when to plant, and how to protect your crops from cold weather.
To start, I recommend taking a look at what your family really enjoys eating and select a few favorites from the list below – no sense in growing food that won’t be enjoyed! For instance, I know that turnips will do really well in my zone 5B garden, but my family does not love them. Instead, I’ll focus on growing beets and greens that I know we will all enjoy.
Next, take time to select varieties that will do well in cold growing conditions. Seed variety names like “Arctic King” or “Winter Blend” are good clues to cold-hardiness.
Ready for a few easy-to-grow vegetable ideas for your fall garden? Keep in mind that this list is not at all exhaustive. I’ve suggested plants that have done well for me in my garden in Northeast Missouri. In planting a fall garden, I battle extreme heat, drought, and a fairly high pest load, so if I can grow a successful fall garden, I know you will be able to!
Ten Easy to Grow Vegetables for your Fall Garden
1) Lettuce
Lettuce loves cool weather, so it’s a great choice for your fall garden. I have enjoyed picking salads from the garden through the end of December when I protect beds with floating row cover and clear plastic.
2) Spinach
If I had to pick one vegetable for my fall garden, it would be spinach. Enjoyed fresh or cooked, spinach thrives in cool weather, becoming even more sweet tasting after frost.
3) Mustard Greens
I like to add a few varieties of mustard greens to my salad blends, to add a bit of spicy kick. They endure the cold quite well, and grow quickly in the late summer and early fall.
4) Cilantro
Cilantro is a true cold weather plant that, in my zone 5B garden, will last well into the winter months, even without frost protection. I like to let cilantro re-seed itself by leaving plants in the ground to flower and produce seeds. In the spring, cilantro is often among the first plants to germinate.
5) Garlic
Homegrown garlic far exceeds the flavor of anything you will find at the grocery store. Its cold-hardiness makes it an excellent choice for your fall garden. Although you can also plant garlic in the spring, for a later summer harvest, my preferred method is to plant garlic in the fall and let it overwinter, harvesting it in late June. Check out my Ultimate Guide to Growing, Harvesting, and Storing Garlic for more detailed cultivation information! (https://homestead-honey.com/2015/06/21/growing-harvesting-and-storing-garlic/)
6) Beets
Beets are one of my favorite crops because you can enjoy the green tops and store the roots for months in cool storage. Beet seeds will need lots of consistent moisture to germinate, but they are a relatively easy and quick growing crop.
7) Mache
Mache, also known as corn salad, is a cold-loving green that makes a lovely addition to salads. I will sow it in the fall for fresh eating, and again in the later fall to overwinter for early spring greens.
8) Kale
Kale is a powerhouse vegetable that grows year round, gets even sweeter after the first frost, and re-seeds itself in the garden. I love to plant Lacinato and Red Russian kale, but I’ve also heard great things about Vates. Sow your kale in succession from early spring through early fall for a variety of sizes for salads, smoothies, and stir-fries.
9) Chinese Cabbage
Chinese cabbage is one of my favorite cool weather vegetables. We sauté it in stir-fries and also enjoy it fermented into Kimchi.
10) Radishes
For a quick-win fall crop, be sure to add radishes to your list. In fact, sow radish seeds every two weeks, and enjoy continual harvests.
For more inspiration, pick up a few seed catalogs (High Mowing Seeds is a great one for fall gardening because they sell many cold-hardy and short season crops that do well in Northern Vermont) and start browsing! Use this list as a jumping off point, and dive into Homestead Honey’s Guide to Fall Gardening for more detailed guidance on how to plant a successful and bountiful fall garden. Happy growing!
Wildflowers, this ebook has me thinking of all the ways I CAN garden…I’m so inspired that my husband is going to think I’ve lost my mind! Teri makes a daunting process much simpler and I know so many of you would love to dive in with her to eat fresh, home grown veggies all year long. Imagine the money you’ll save! Get the ebook here!
Teri Page is the creator of Homestead Honey (https://homestead-honey.com) where she writes about gardening, homesteading, fermentation, foraging, and off the grid living. She is the author of Family Homesteading, which is now available for pre-order (https://amzn.to/2O1EpFK)! Teri is also a life and business coach who enjoys working with women who are ready to live their homestead dream!
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