What's cool to plant while you're hot? Cool season vegetables. That's what! Although the dog days of summer make it tough to think about milder days, they are coming and fall will be here before we know it. That means it's time to start planning and planting your cool season vegetable garden so that soon enough you'll be feasting on garden-to-table meals using your own fresh broccoli, cauliflower, beets, swiss chard, lettuce, kale, cabbage, radishes and your other favorite fall veggies.
August is the time of year to begin planning and purchasing vegetable seedlings and seed packets for the produce you'd like to pick from your own garden come fall. By planting your slower to mature vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and collards in late August, you're allowing your veggies to establish their roots in the ground before it gets cold. If you wait to plant these seed, oftentimes your plants will have trouble producing fruits come November.
Root vegetables like carrots, parsnips, turnips and radishes are best when started from seed. Because the actual vegetable grows underground, it can be a challenge to transfer these veggies from plant set to ground easily.
Start your lettuce and peas from seed or plant sets. Green beans are another fall time vegetable for your cool season garden. They have a short maturity with vines that will produce beans until the first frost. Be sure to add sweet peas and sugar snaps too!
Check your seedlings and plants thoroughly throughout the warmer temperatures as caterpillars and other pests are very prevalent during the summer. Bacillus thuringiensis is a natural pesticide we use to easily get rid of caterpillars and cutworms.
So plant for the future and get your cool season garden growing. Questions about planting your fall garden? Swing by Garden Supply Company and we'll help you find just what you need to get your garden to table meals on their way from your garden to your plate.