Here’s how to grow your ... Fall vegetable garden

By Barb Delisio

OSU Extension master gardener volunteer

It’s hard to think of fall with the summer we’ve had. Maybe some of you are looking forward

Some think fall is the best time to be a backyard gardener.

Summer gardening is fun, but with the new interest in local food and farm markets, it’s easy to get fresh tomatoes, peppers, beans, cucumbers and other vegetables.

By the time fall comes around, we’re ready for some different home-grown vegetables.

August is a great time to clear space for new crops to be planted that will last long into the fall.

Various vegetables take different amounts of time to produce.

For example, tomatoes (60-100) tells us it takes 60-100 days to pick delicious, ripe fruit. This will help you choose which vegetables you can plant and harvest before the cold winter weather sets in here in the Mahoning Valley.

Sometimes, these numbers vary.

Remember that your seed packet will tell you how many days your particular vegetable variety takes to mature. Certain varieties can mature quicker and others are more frost tolerant.

Starting Aug. 1, you can plant seeds of bush beans (65-75), Chinese cabbage (70), carrots (70-80), collards (55-70), kale (50-70), peas (60-70), lettuce (60), radishes (25-30), spinach (40-45) and most other greens directly into your garden.

Some fall vegetables need a longer growing time from seed to maturity.

If you can find the plants already started, there are fewer days till harvest.

For example, transplants of broccoli (60-80), cauliflower (55-60), and Brussels sprouts (60) can be planted even later in the garden.

You also can start these vegetable from seed now and hope we have a very late, heavy frost.

Protecting the plants from the first frost or two also is acceptable to keep plants growing, as the soil is still plenty warm enough for the plants to grow and produce.

You have to remember that seeds and plants planted in early August need the same care that spring and summer vegetables need.

That is, 6-8 hours of sunlight, water, fertilizer and weeding.

Seeds now planted directly in the soil will germinate quicker because of the warmer soil.

But remember, it’s been so dry, extra watering may be needed just so the seeds don’t dry out.

Seeds need water to sprout and push up the tiny new plant. Drip hoses are still the way to go.

Oct. 15 is the date of our average first frost, but Mother Nature still has the final word.

With this information, I hope you can put your own carrots and Brussels sprouts on your Thanksgiving table!

For more ideas on planting a fall vegetable garden, go to http://go.osu.edu/fallvegetables.