As vegetable gardeners, we schedule part of our garden lives on two important dates of the year: the date where it is safe to plant and the date where we will likely lose our plants. Of course, I am referring to the average last freeze date of the spring and the average first freeze date in the fall. It is between these two dates that we do most of our planting and growing.

However, contained within these bookends of the vegetable garden season, there are various opportunities for multiple or succession plantings. Mid-July is what we consider the beginning of the fall growing season. Yes, I know… it’s not fall, but we can plant a variety of vegetables now to prepare for fall harvests.

As we consider what we want to plant for our fall gardens, plants can be grouped into two categories. Up first would be the plants that fit in the “tender” category. These tender plants are the ones that will die at the first frost, so they need to be planted early enough to be able to harvest before the average fall first freeze date of November 15^th. Last year, this was pretty accurate as we were still harvesting vegetables at our Seed to Supper Farm in mid-November. However, the year before, we were frozen out in mid-October. So, we never really know.

Vegetables that fit into this “tender” category include beans, cilantro, corn, cucumber, eggplant, pepper, pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash, and tomatoes. At our Seed to Supper Farm, we are just about to plant our fall vegetable crops…as soon as we can finish harvesting our abundant corn harvest. I say abundant because we have harvested almost 11,000 pounds so far, with a final harvest happening between the writing of this article and publication. Once we get this done, we will set our sights on planting for fall. All of this corn was donated to area food pantries.

The other category of plants appropriate for fall harvesting would be those in the semi-hardy category. Plants are considered semi-hardy if they can take a few light frosts and survive. Plants in this category would include beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, potatoes, kale, peas, spinach, Swiss Chard, and turnips to name a few. With these plants, you can be a little less nervous about that first freeze date, as long as it’s not a deep freeze.

Another thing I like about a fall garden is that it’s hot right now. But as we ease into fall, the temps will start to go down causing my desire to be out in the garden working to miraculously rise. Maybe I’m the only one, but hot weather diminishes my desire to get out there. But of course, we do it anyway…

There’s also another benefit to a fall garden in that we don’t seem to have as many pest problems. One of the reasons for this is that many of our insect pest’s life cycles are completed or at least winding down. Yes, we will still have insects trying to dine on our plants, but likely not as many.

Also, if you are a fan of squash, you can plant acorn and butternut squash which are not preferred varieties for squash bugs. Squash bugs will still be around, but likely not in as great of numbers since these vegetables are not first on their list. But if you planted pumpkins, you’ll also need to be on the lookout for squash bugs. In the first year of our Seed to Supper Farm, we lost our entire crop to squash bugs because we weren’t paying attention. So, try to inspect your plants regularly for insects so you can nip any potential problems in the bud.

Also, when planting your fall crops, pay attention to the “days to harvest.” Your seed packets will have this information. For example, let’s say your cucumber plants have done their thing and are looking pretty sad in your garden. Looking at the info on the seed packet, you will likely see a days to harvest of 60 to 70 days. Let’s just call it 90 days. So, if our first average freeze date if November 15^th with the possibility of a freeze in mid-October, that means if we want to give our plants a good shot at giving us a harvest, we need to plant at least 90 days before October 15^th or so. Guess what…that means mid-July is the time to plant.

Some plants do better when placed in our garden as transplants rather than seeds. Cabbage is one of those plants. Because we are planning on planting a fall crop of cabbage, we started the seeds indoors a couple of weeks ago. This will give us time to get them started, move them outdoors, and hopefully get a harvest before any early freeze event.

We have some great information from OSU on fall gardens on our website (www.tulsamastergardeners.org). Just click on the Lawn and Garden Help Section and then on Vegetables. See you in the garden!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org. Photo: Tom Ingram