Fall can be a great time to grow a vegetable garden. We typically think of spring as the best planting season, but believe it or not fall can be an even better time of year to grow a garden. Even though summer is coming to an end, it’s not too late to grow a fall garden. Fall gardens work best with a little advanced planning, but I can help you throw one together quickly.
If you’re interested in planting a fall garden now, you can! I know you’re busy, that’s the way of the world. We are constantly over-booked and running from one responsibility to the next. In the essence of time, I will give you some great short-cuts. You can order mostly everything you need right now while you’re searching the web. Then, within the next few days or by this weekend you can start growing a fall garden. It should take you an hour or less to get it going. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s get too it!
Tips and Shortcuts:
• Use the internet to reduce shopping time
• Order plants today
• Order an easy to assemble raised garden bed
• Determine your growing climate
• Buy Gardening Soil & Organic Fertilizer
• Set aside time and start your garden
PURCHASE ONLINE
I know how busy life can be. Who has time to drive from store to store looking for the right plants and materials to set-up a garden? I know I don’t have that much time, so I’m sure you don’t either. Hey, since you’re sitting here learning about how to grow a fall garden, I bet you can spend another 15 minutes ordering all the supplies you need to get started. I promise that’s all the time it will take you. I will give you links to quickly direct you to the information you need to get a jump start on growing your garden.
ORDER PLANTS TODAY
I have to admit, we’re getting a late start on our fall garden. Since fall is just a few days away, the best thing to do is to start with seedlings or pre-sprouted plants. There are many good options for direct sow seeds that can be used in fall gardens, but at this time I think we should start with pre-grown plants. That way we can avoid the dreaded freezing of our lovely crops. Burpee.com is a great site to visit when planning your fall garden. You can order just about any plant you’re looking for, and in my experience the plants you get from Burpee are healthy and grow very well.
ORDER AN EASY-TO ASSEMBLE-RAISED GARDEN BED
The best way to get a garden growing quickly is by purchasing an easy to assemble raised garden bed. By doing this you can avoid tilling up your yard and will minimize the amount of digging required. There are many easy to assemble garden beds available for online purchase. Both Burpee and Amazon have some great products. I will give you direct links to a few of these products on my website if you want to quickly link to them and get them shipped to you in a hurry.
DETERMINE YOUR GROWING CLIMATE
One of the most important steps in growing a fall garden is to determine your growing climate and choose the right plants. It’s easy to get lost in a slew of maps on the internet. I am a big fan of the Burpee website; they make it easy for the typical gardener. They have a growing calendar tool. All you do is enter your zip code and boom there’s a list of the crops you can grow throughout the year. This awesome tool even gives you information on which method to use for planting (direct sow, indoor sow or transplant). If this sounds like something of interest to you, I will give direct links on my website so you don’t have to spend too much time searching around. I’ll do the leg-work for you to make this process as quick as possible.
BUY GARDENING SOIL AND ORGANIC FERTILIZER
Since we will be using an easy to assemble raised garden bed, our plants will get fresh healthy soil. This makes plants happy! It also makes gardeners happy because it eliminates the step of having to till and dig up our yard in order to get the ground ready for planting. This is the most simple and effective way to get a fall garden growing quickly with healthy plants.
Get this:
• Two bags of topsoil
• 1-2 Bags of more expensive garden soil/compost
• Organic Fertilizer
You can just buy these things from your local garden store. You can stop by on your way home from work and run in, it should only take you a few minutes. Remember, we’re doing this quickly. You will also need a few handfuls of grass clippings or leaves to spread over the top. You can have your kids collect these from your yard. It shouldn’t be too hard, and it gives your garden some nice organic material.
SET ASIDE TIME TO SET-UP AND PLANT YOUR GARDEN
You should set aside about an hour to get your garden set-up. Depending on which raised garden bed model you choose, your time commitment for setting-up the garden may be more or less. This is a simple process. Here we go!
Prepare the Bed:
• Choose a location for your garden
• Take your raised garden bed assembly kit, plants, soil and fertilizer to your garden location
• Make sure you have a garden hose nearby
• Assemble the raised garden bed kit
• Take your top soil bags and lay them down near the garden bed
• Poke several holes in the bottom of the bags
• Lay the bags inside the raised garden bed
• Cut off the tops of the top soil bags
• Pour the garden soil/compost, little by little on the top soil mixing the soils as you go
• Add the organic fertilizer to your top soil/compost mixture, mix again with your hands
Basically, what we’ve done here is create a quick and effortless healthy soil for your plants to thrive in. By leaving the top-soil bags partially in-tact we are reducing the amount of weeds that will attack your veggie garden. Don’t forget to cut holes in the bottom of the top soil bags though. This ensures proper drainage of the soil. We also combined healthy garden soil/compost with a cheaper top-soil to cut cost. By blending in the fertilizer, we are ensuring your garden will have a healthy start.
Now it’s time to plant:
• When planting, be sure to leave a small pathway between your rows of plants
• Take the plants, one at a time and wet them well with the garden hose
• Remove the plants from their containers, one at a time
• Plant in rows, close enough to prevent weeds from taking over bare spots
• Once you’ve planted all your seedlings, top with grass clippings or leaves
It’s important to plant your vegetables close together. It may seem counterproductive, but this will reduce the weeds in your garden. By wetting the plants before removing them from the pots, we are giving them a nice and minimizing the amount of root damage upon removal. Topping the garden with grass clippings or leaves adds organic matter, further preventing weeds and other undesirables.
Conclusion:
Planting a fall vegetable garden doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. Gather most of your supplies by ordering online and your time commitment is reduced even more. This can be quick, easy and painless. I will add this article to my website with simple links to get you directly some easy-to-assemble raised garden bed, plants and climate research tools.
It should literally take you 15-20 minutes to order your supplies. Running into the garden center for soil and fertilizer should be quick. Your time commitment to setting up the garden should only be about an hour. That’s a total commitment of about an hour and a half. Just think how great it will be to have healthy, organic food growing right in your back yard. Let’s do this thing!