This year, I have a tiny fall garden (5' x 6'). It's the bed that my peas were growing in during the spring and summer. I didn't bother to till it before planting, and have added no fertilizer. I just put in the onion sets and planted the seed. It contains alternating rows:
- onion sets
- leaf lettuce
- onion sets
- radishes
- onion sets
- leaf lettuce
I figure that my little garden--about 20 minutes of work--will save me at least the cost of a large, four-topping pizza. That's a return of about $48/hr on the labor.
Most folks can grow a fall garden. Working backwards from your date of first average frost, look at the days to maturity (and if it must be transplanted, the seedling grow time) plus the average germination days of any vegetable you have in mind.
Little red globe radishes germinate from seed in a few days, then reach maturity in a month or less. Onions can be used for salad onions once they are several weeks old. While some lettuce varieties are slow (e.g. Romaine and closed-head iceberg), many of the open-head, curly leaf varieties are much quicker to reach a usable size. Most of the brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, collards, kohlrabi, kale) will tolerate a light frost, though many have a long maturation time.
A big advantage of a fall garden is the absence of many springtime pests. A second advantage is that many local seed vendors will mark down the current year's seed packets. I found some at 4/$1. With the exception of corn, most vegetable seed is good for 3 to 5 years or longer.
Bob
