An autumn garden at its most bountiful.

The Vegetable Garden in Autumn

By Kathy LaLiberte

After 25 years of vegetable gardening, I have finally figured out how to plant a decent fall garden. And I'm here to tell you that Robert Rodale, Dick Raymond, Eliot Coleman, Shep Ogden, Mel Bartholomew, Ed Smith and all those other vegetable gardening gurus are totally right. A fall vegetable garden is satisfying in a way no summer garden will ever be.

Here's what I'm loving about my fall vegetable garden and why you ought to plant one for yourself next year:

The FOOD. Crunchy salads of arugula, baby spinach, romaine and assorted leaf lettuces, unmarred by flea beetles or slugs. Squeaky and totally adorable little pea pods. More broccoli than I can possibly eat. Baby carrots and beets.Young Swiss chard plants with stems still tender enough to eat raw. Lots of kale that's getting tastier with each frosty night. Whatever vegetables come into the house are cold and crunchy and seem packed with more flavor and goodness than they ever have in the summer.

The BOUNTY. Besides enjoying all the good food that's coming out of my garden this fall, there's a special pleasure in knowing how much food my garden has already produced this season. Some of it is in the basement: shallots, garlic, red and yellow onions and winter squash. Some is in the freezer: asparagus soup, sweet corn, pesto and roasted peppers. In the pantry there's pepper jelly, sweet chili sauce (it was a good year for peppers), red currant jelly, grape jelly, and bread-and-butter pickles. All of it is organic. All of it grew right in my yard and was nurtured by my own hands. It's a deep satisfaction I wish everyone could know.

The ORDER. My fall garden looks like a well-oiled machine. The beds that were filled with garlic and onions have been raked smooth and are now covered with several inches of dark chocolate compost. Spent broccoli, greens that bolted, and the messy cucumber and squash plants are in the compost bin. Those rows have also been covered with compost in preparation for next year's garlic, which will be planted in a week or two. The sun-bleached straw covering the pathways is soft and dry underfoot. And the few weeds I can find are almost a pleasure to pull, knowing it means less work next spring.

The FEEL. It's hard to get depressed about winter coming when the garden looks so great. There's usually a week or two in the spring when it looks this neat and full of potential, but the energy in May is manic; my own energy and that of every plant in the northern hemisphere. In the fall, we've all mellowed and slowed way down. I'm not obsessing about my to-do list, and the plants aren't obsessing about how quickly they can go to seed. Bundled up in a fleece jacket, I can enjoy just walking around looking at the plants, thinking about what I might cook tonight.

I use floating row covers, such as this Garden Quilt, to protect crops on chilly nights.

So how did I finally pull off this wonderful fall garden? Though I'm fully aware that I may never be able to repeat my success, here are a few tips from my experience this summer:

• Get your fall crops started early. I started replanting in mid-July and kept at it until mid-August. As soon as I harvested my garlic, I turned the soil, added compost and filled the entire bed with fall crops, including peas. Tying fall planting to the garlic harvest is a trick I plan to repeat. For more on succession planting, read Double Your Harvest with a Second Planting.
• Select varieties well-suited to fall planting. In the middle of the summer, I placed a second order with my favorite seed company. I ordered greens that were specifically recommended for fall, when the sun is weaker and the day length is shorter.
• Use shade netting. I covered every newly planted row with wire hoops and shade netting. The netting helps keep the soil cool so seeds like lettuce and spinach can germinate. It also reduces evaporation so the moisture level in the soil stays more consistent. Remove the shade netting just as soon as daytime temperatures stay below 80 degrees. The days are getting shorter and your plants need every bit of light they can get.
• Water daily. Soak the bed thoroughly as soon as you have planted it. Then water a little bit every day unless you've had a soaking rain. When the soil is already warm, most seeds germinate in three to five days. If there's a hot, sunny day and you forget to water, the top layer of soil may dry out and those newly germinated seeds will die. Though I rarely water my garden during the summer, I think watering these second plantings made a huge difference.
• Use frost protection to extend the harvest. When you remove the shade netting, leave the wire hoops in place. When nights get frosty, cover the beds with Garden Quilt. If possible, remove the fabric during the day so your plants get as much light and air circulation as possible. When daytime temperatures stay cold, keep the fabric on full time. For more information, read our article on using garden fabric.

Here's hoping YOU don't have to wait 25 years to experience the pleasures of a fall vegetable garden!

Kathy LaLiberte has worked for Gardener's Supply since it began more than 25 years ago. She lives and gardens in Richmond, Vt. Click here to read more of her Innovative Gardener essays.