SOW AND GROW FALL VEGGIES

Imagine eating peas off the vine in the fall. Sweeter carrots in November. A September garden salad.

The Pacific Northwest has the advantage of a mild fall that allows gardeners to have multiple seasons of vegetables. How you can accomplish this successfully requires a little bit of planning.

Ideally, you want to harvest your crops before the first frost, which in this area is around November 10. Some crops can stay in the ground past that date, and in fact, some vegetables benefit from a frost. (This is why some people say that winter carrots are sweeter than summer carrots.)

Steps to Grow Fall Vegetables

Step 1. Figure out what veggies you want to grow There are a lot of them. These are the cool season crops, such as: Beets, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Collards, Endive, Fennel, Kale, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Mustard Greens, Onions (Bunching), Parsnips, Peas, Radicchio, Radishes, Rutabagas, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Turnips.

Step 2. Ensure you have a good sunny spot. Remember that there is less sun in late summer, so pick a spot that has or will have lots of sun exposure. Also make sure that the spot has good drainage for when the rains come back.
It's also going to be important to amend your soil if you are planting in spot that you previously grew vegetables in. Some compost and fertilizer would be a good idea. You may also consider doing some crop rotation, i.e. don't plant the same kind of vegetable in the same spot, as that location might have some vegetable-specific garden pests built up.

Step 3. Get some seeds or starts. We carry both (fall vegetable starts show up in the late summer). Vegetable starts give you a 2-3 week headstart over seeds, but in both cases, vegetables will take 2-3 weeks longer to reach maturity in the fall versus the spring, because of the shorter days with less light. Also, note that while most veggies can be direct sown (seeds go directly into the ground), some veggies (cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, etc.) are better off started indoors. If your garden is particularly warm, you might want to start your seeds indoors or cover with row cover to keep them from drying out. Seeds will not germinate if they are dry.

Step 4. Time when to plant. Let's look at a Territorial Seed packet. The Twister Cauliflower seed packet says 62 days to maturity. It also says:

Soil Temp for Germ 55–75°F
Days to Emergence 5–17
Soil Temp for Transp 55–75°F
Start indoors 4-6 weeks before your anticipated transplant date

Since we know that first frost is around Nov 10, 62 days before that date is late August, but because the days are shorter, adding another 2-3 weeks, places us at the beginning of September. Starting seeds 4-6 weeks before transplant, places the start time around mid-July. Do similar calculations with the other vegetables on your list.

If all of this sounds too daunting, buy some starts or try easy to grow and shorter maturity veggies like lettuce and carrots and then experiment with other veggies next year!

Resources

Here a few tables of what to plant when that will come in handy:

Territorial Seed Company: Growing Guides and Winter Gardening Chart

Log House Plants: Fall/Winter Gardening Guide