Planting a Second Season Garden

Spring is the time of year when most people take to the garden to grow their own crop of fresh vegetables. However, spring isn't the only season when vegetables can be planted. This year, consider a second-season, or fall, garden. When the first round of corn, beans, and beets are harvested, plant another crop to add to your winter supply. Fall gardening can actually be better for certain plants, since you can take advantage of autumn weather, with cooler temperatures and more moisture in the soil. Buying fast-maturing varieties will help ensure that your crops will be ready by the first frost.

Just as you do in the spring, be sure to properly prepare your garden for a fall planting. Clean out the remnants of all previously-harvested crops, then till the garden to loosen the soil. Chances are, your spring crops took a lot of nutrients from the soil, so replenish by tilling in fertilizer. Since the ground is much warmer and the weather is hot, mulch each row lightly with compost or peat moss. This helps shade the seeds, keeping the soil cooler and locking in moisture. If the weather is dry, be sure to water your garden thoroughly every week.

Sweet Corn: In Indiana, sweet corn can be planted a second time anywhere from the first of June through July 20th. Again, you may wish to buy a fast-growing variety, such as Bodacious sweet corn, which only takes 75 days to mature. Sweet corn is a tender vegetable, meaning it will be damaged by even a light frost. If there is to be a frost, be sure to protect the plants by staking around them, then covering them with a light blanket. You may also use a cold frame over your plants to help raise the ambient temperature.

Green Beans: This is another vegetable that will give a good yield as a fall crop. In Indiana, plant green beans any time from July 1st through August 1st. Like sweet corn, beans are also considered a tender vegetable, so be sure to cover them in order to protect from early frost.

Beets: Beets are a cool weather plant, making them the perfect crop for your fall garden. They grow best in warm days and cool nights and are semi-hardy, so they will tolerate a light frost. It is said that fall beets have a higher sugar content than those planted in the spring, so the taste definitely doesn't suffer. Plant beets from July 1st through August 5th.

Radishes: Root vegetables like radishes always grow their green above-ground foliage first, then focus on the actual radish. Unfortunately, this puts the radish itself developing during hot, long summer days, many times making them bitter. Planting them in your fall garden may make for a better tasting vegetable, since the radish develops during cooler weather. Radishes are very hardy, and will tolerate even a hard frost. Plant them any time from the first of August through the first of October.

These are just a few of the numerous vegetables that can be planted in a second-season garden. Make the most of your garden plot this year by extending the gardening season into the autumn months. Having fresh vegetables in the wintertime makes a fall garden well worth the extra work!