Jeff Favelle October 17th, 2022
The crops have been harvested. The tools have been cleaned. The garden beds have been put to rest after a season well done. So, time to plant, right?
Actually, yes! We often can and should be planting as fall approaches. Gardening in the autumn has a few advantages over the traditional planting window and I’ve got 3 key ones for you today.
First up, there’s inherently less weeds. The bulk of our most troublesome weeds tend to sprout and colonize the bare areas of our gardens in the spring. Months and months of working with our crops, eliminating invasive competitors, and mulching our soils has left our growing areas virtually weed-free by this time year. With the cooling weather and completely covered soil, weeds just aren’t the force they once were. Score one for us!
Second, there’s also less pests. Summer brings us an influx of deadly pests damaging and taking down our favorite crops. With all that work and effort, not to mention cost, pest outbreaks are just devastating to not only our plants, but our morale as well. Fear not. With the coming cold, pests seem to take a break at the end of summer and we can breathe a bit easier known we’ll be the only ones munching down on our crops!
And finally, as if less weeds and less insect invaders weren’t enough, some plants just do and taste better with the days of heat and drought behind them. Plants such as lettuce, spinach, many of the lush herbs, and of course, all of your Brassica-type plants, including broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, and kale! Cooler temperatures cause these plants to send more sugars to their leaves, resulting in a sweeter, more palatable harvest. And the plants that are designed for more mild conditions thrive better without the stress of heat and constant moisture loss.
So our plants taste better, they grow better, there’s less weeds to contend with, and dealing with pest outbreaks is all but a memory? Dare I say, fall gardening might be my PREFERRED time of year to grow!
For the full video version of this article, click on the video above!