• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Us
    • Meet Our Talented Team
    • Anti-hate Speech Policy
  • Terms Of Service
  • Free Printables
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us

DIY Home & Garden

A DIY & Gardening Resource

  • Home Page
  • DIY Projects
    • Upcycling
  • Home
    • Cleaning and Organizing
    • Holidays
      • Christmas
      • Valentine’s Day
      • Easter
      • Fourth of July
      • Halloween
      • Thanksgiving
      • Memorial Day
      • Mother’s Day
    • Home Safety
    • Home Decor
    • Pets
    • Real Estate
  • Gardening
  • Herbal and Natural Wellness
  • Recipes
    • Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Salads
    • Venison Recipes
    • Home Canning and Preserving
      • Canning
      • Dehydrating
      • Freezer Recipes
  • Travel
Home » 4 Tips On How To Prepare The Garden For Fall Vegetables

4 Tips On How To Prepare The Garden For Fall Vegetables

08/04/2017 By Deborah T

Love us? Share us!

As the heat of summer in NC rages on, I am shifting focus to prepare the garden for fall vegetables that I will plant soon. Here are 4 tips on turning your summer garden into a fall vegetable harvest. I planted my summer garden on the early side, around mid-April. At this point, I have harvested all I can of several vegetables.

RELATED POST: Vegetables to Plant in Your Garden Right Now

gardeners_delight_tomato_seed_xlarge fall vegetables
When your tomatoes wither away, turn the space over to fall crops.

As the heat of summer in NC rages on, I am shifting focus to prepare the garden for fall vegetables that I will plant soon. Here are 4 tips on turning your summer garden into a fall vegetable harvest. I planted my summer garden on the early side, around mid-April. At this point, I have harvested all I can of several vegetables.

Despite the fact that my cucumbers have been done for a couple weeks, and my larger tomato plants are spent, I am still working in my garden.

vertical gardening fall vegetables
Indeed, a cucumber cage aka tomato cage is an easy way to grow cucumbers vertically

“Why?” you may ask. The reason is that I am planning to start my fall garden in a week or two. I will plant a fresh rotation of herbs, kale, and lettuce. There are still long days of daylight left and I want to take advantage of it!

Here are tips on how to prepare your garden for fall vegetables:

1-REMOVE PLANTS THAT ARE NO LONGER PRODUCING

First, keep an eye on your plants throughout the summer. Remove any plants that are no longer producing.  And, remove them as soon as your 100% certain that they’re done.

Here’s an example. My cucumbers went strong from the end of May until the middle of July. Then, it got over 100 degrees every day. I watched for about 5 or 6 days and saw no new blooms. The edges were dry and starting to curl up.

I pulled them up immediately once I realized they were done. Removing plants quickly after they are done producing helps your garden soil to retain nutrients and moisture. There was no need to continue to have the cucumber plants absorb water and fertilizer.  Pulling them out made the jalapenos, which were still going strong, even healthier looking.

she shed for fall vegetables
This was my raised bed garden just a few weeks ago, at the peak of summer growing. Now, not so much…

2-CHECK FOR SIGNS OF DAMAGE

As you are removing the unproductive plants, take a good look at them for signs of damage. You may find that insects were eating them, spots of mold, or disease.  This information will help you determine if you over watered and caused mold, or if you possibly have an infestation.

Either way, you will need to make the proper adjustments to that. This can vary from area to area as we don’t all have the same amount of rainfall or heat.

Also, it can help you improve your gardening techniques next year.

For example, a swarm of Japanese beetles settled in on my sweet peppers this year. I was away for a few days and returned to sweet pepper plants just about destroyed. But I was fortunate that they fixated on the sweet peppers and didn’t eat everything else!

Then I was able to head out and purchase a trap to catch these little buggers before they continued their destruction.  Next year, I will take preventative measures and place a trap around the end of June when they begin their migration into my area.

And yes, I pulled those damaged sweet pepper plants out right away.

3-AMEND THE SOIL

As you are pulling out old plants, amend the soil with compost, peat moss, or fertilizer. This is your choice. If you want an organic garden, choose compost or peat moss. If you want to fertilize, go for it.

Throughout the first half of summer, your garden plants have been absorbing all the nutrients that you added at planting, plus most of any that you added back in during the growing season.

Treat your fall rotation of crops to the same good healthy start as your first crops and you will be able to grow right until the first frost.

4-PLANT AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME

Check your seed packets, and read them for information on planting seasons. Many of them will tell you that you can plant, in your zone, in May and September or April and August, etc. If you’re not sure how to find this information, click on this link: How To Read a Seed Packet.

 

how to plant a garden
How To Garden: Reading a Seed Packet Can Lead You To Success!
container garden
How To Garden: Read Your Seed Packet Carefully!

In addition, you can amend the soil and plant some plants while your first rotation is still going strong.

For example, I pulled out my cucumbers and the damaged sweet peppers. Then, I amended my soil and immediately started some snap beans. They are quick growing, don’t mind the heat, and will produce in about 60 days.  They are right next to my jalapenos and seem to be doing just fine.


Follow these 4 tips and you can turn your summer vegetable garden into a fall garden and enjoy the bounty of fresh vegetables all the way into the fall!

like DIY Home & Garden on Facebook
Like us on Facebook
copyscape
Free banner from copyscape. Protect your work!
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Deborah T
Deborah T
Editor and author at DIY Home & Garden, a Word Innovations publication
Deborah Tayloe is a full-time blogger, children's book author, and freelance writer, contributing to large publications.

She has a B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education/English and a Spanish Minor. In addition, she holds a Certificate in Natural Health from a fully-accredited program and is a Certified Herbologist. She pursued these natural wellness certifications due to her love for herb gardening.

Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."

Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.

Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.
Deborah T
Latest posts by Deborah T (see all)
  • Moths Play a Greater Role in Pollination Than Previously Thought, Says Study - 06/06/2023
  • GMO Seeds Versus Non-GMO: Key Differences and Ethics - 06/05/2023
  • Catnip vs Catmint (They’re Not the Same!) - 06/05/2023
Tweet

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: fall gardening, fall gardens, fall vegetables, gardening tips, planting for fall, prepare the garden for fall, vegetable garden, vegetable gardens

About Deborah T

Deborah Tayloe is a full-time blogger, children's book author, and freelance writer, contributing to large publications.

She has a B.S.Ed. in Secondary Education/English and a Spanish Minor. In addition, she holds a Certificate in Natural Health from a fully-accredited program and is a Certified Herbologist. She pursued these natural wellness certifications due to her love for herb gardening.

Despite freelancing to make a living, her love is "all things home."

Deborah grew up in a family that grew a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, helping her parents pull weeds and can home-grown foods as part of her childhood. In fact, she had no idea that she could purchase veggies and fruits in pre-packed steel cans until she went to college and made a food run.

Today, she lives in Bertie County, North Carolina, an agricultural rural area with more chickens than people. She lives with her husband and two rescue pets a sweet toy fox terrier and a cat who showed up one day and moved into the house. Together, they enjoy DIY projects, furniture refinishing, gardening, and canning.

Primary Sidebar

Click for details on our latest travel deal

book vip cancun travel

Here’s Why You Should Plant Sunflowers in the Garden:

https://youtu.be/ZwvPDTbs9U0

You Won’t Even Notice You Tossed These Cluttery Things:

https://youtu.be/z16ZRMC4wbE

Don’t Suffer, Try This Bath to Soothe Itchy Skin:

https://youtu.be/SUxl9UL7QDw

Footer

Amazon Affiliate Disclaimer

DIY Home & Garden is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

DIY Home & Garden does not constitute or intend to provide medical, health, financial, legal, or other professional advice. This website is for entertainment purposes only.

Quick Links

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Terms Of Service
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2023 · DIY Home & Garden

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

DIY Home & Garden
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.