The fall garden is a brilliant extension of the summer growing season. Cold crop plants get their chance in the sun (literally). In cooler weather, certain plants and vegetables actually grow better.

We are in zone 7 here in Tennessee. Don’t forget to look up your own zone to know what would do best planted where you live.

Did you know that certain plants like broccoli and cabbage actually thrive in cool weather? Some crops like cooler soil and less sunlight…perfect for this time of year! The end of August and even into September is ideal times to plant your cool crop, fall garden veggies.

To be safe, you should always check the back of your seed packets (or your friendly neighborhood gardener) to see whether the crop you are wanting to plant will be ok before the first frost.

Why You Want a Fall Garden

My husband and his Papaw plowed up a fresh plot this year for our cool crop vegetables. We are moving the big garden to a different spot, so the fall garden will give us a great start for next spring.

In theory, if you had the same garden plot, planting greens or other fall plants in the garden after the summer crop is over helps cultivate and feed the soil for next year! Isn’t that neat? Turning over the greens gives the proper nutrition for the soil. It provides the soil with natural nitrogen. This is an old time farming trick to keep your soil healthy!

And of course the other reason we grow a fall garden is for fresh produce…even into the winter months.

I am afraid that the general population is unaware that you can grown your own food even when the nights turn chilly! You certainly can!

What We Planted in Our Garden

This year we planted the whole garden full of cool crop goodies. We directly sowed the seed into the soil. Here’s our list of what we planted:

Detroit Dark Red Beets

Icicle white and Cherry Belle radishes

Swiss chard

Florida Broadleaf Mustard greens

Georgia Collard greens

Seven Top turnips

Spinach

Now, we also have our raised beds to plant! As of this writing, we haven’t planted yet, but we are planning on putting out some cabbage, lettuce, and continue to let our kale grow!

We will aim to buy cabbage plants…because we did not start our fall seeds this year. (This is a whole different topic…seed starting in the summer. It is totally doable but we just didn’t make time this year! So that will leave us trying to find plants for sale.)

It Makes Transitioning a Little Easier

I always get a little sad when summer is over. I love the hustle of canning season…where the produce is coming in quicker than I can cook it. Late night canning sessions are super fun to me. It’s always a little sad when this season ends.

But with the fall garden…our cool crops need to be preserved too!

I usually freeze our greens.

We also can beets and love eating them fresh!

During the wintertime, we also start saving potatoes for planting next year. So really if you think about it, the garden is a year long thing.

Preparation and preserving never end!

Here’s my favorite way to cook collard greens…or really any type of greens.

I also have a great recipe for Swiss chard! Joy’s Gourmet Chard is a delicious way to fix it!

Keep up with the garden and all we grow on Instagram!