September does not have to mean waving goodbye to the vegetable garden. Depending on your climate and first frost date, plenty of cool-season crops can still go into the soil now and give you fresh food long after the tomatoes start looking exhausted. The key involves choosing vegetables that actually enjoy cooler weather instead of…
cool-season vegetables
7 Fall Vegetables That Can Handle Cooler Nights Better Than You Think
Summer gets all the vegetable-garden glory, but fall quietly has a few tricks of its own. As nights get colder, kale, carrots, spinach, broccoli, cabbage, beets, and radishes can keep producing when heat-loving tomatoes, peppers, and beans start calling it quits. The secret lies in choosing crops that actually like cool weather instead of trying…
Is It Too Late to Plant Vegetables in September? Not in Many Parts of the Country
September gets an unfair reputation in the vegetable garden. The tomatoes may look tired, the cucumber vines may resemble tangled shoelaces, and the squash plants may have reached the stage where every leaf looks like it has seen some things. But that does not mean the garden has run out of useful work. In many…
9 Vegetables You Can Still Plant in September for a Fall Harvest
September does not mean the vegetable garden has packed its bags for the year. In many areas, gardeners can still plant a surprisingly good lineup of cool-season vegetables and harvest them before winter arrives. This involves choosing crops that handle cooler temperatures and matching planting dates to the local first frost date. Some vegetables grow…
9 Vegetables You Can Still Plant in September for a Fall Harvest
September may look like the vegetable garden’s closing time, but somebody forgot to lock the door. As summer crops fade, cool-season vegetables are just getting interested, and several can still go into the garden in September for a fall harvest. The trick involves choosing vegetables that tolerate cooler weather and matching planting time to the…
8 Crops That Can Be Harvested Well Into Chilly Weather
Summer does not get the final word in the vegetable garden. Several crops actually prefer the cooler conditions of fall, allowing gardeners to keep snipping, pulling, digging, and harvesting long after heat-loving tomatoes and peppers have called it a season. This involves choosing crops that tolerate cold and timing them so they reach useful size…
Should You Remove Lower Leaves From Brussels Sprouts?
Brussels sprouts grow in a wonderfully odd fashion, with little cabbage-like buds tucked into the leaf axils along a tall central stalk. The lower sprouts mature first while newer ones develop higher up, which makes leaf removal more nuanced than grabbing pruning shears and giving the plant a haircut. A few well-timed cuts can make…
Could a Cold Frame Be Useful Before Cold Weather Arrives?
A cold frame might look like a glorified box with a window slapped on top, but before cold weather arrives, that humble little structure can become one of the garden’s most useful pieces of equipment. It can protect cool-season vegetables, give seedlings a sheltered transition outdoors, and help keep fresh greens coming after summer starts…