Plant cabbage at least three months prior to the first frost.
Fall gardening is as much about the process as it is the end result. Creating a garden in the autumn keeps the doldrums at bay by giving gardeners in southeast Texas a chance to try their hand at vegetable gardening. It also provides gardeners a chance to prepare their flower beds well in advance of next season's prime growing time.
Instructions
1. Prepare your soil. Add organic matter like hay or compost to make clay or sandy soil workable. Add gypsum to sticky soils to make them easier to work. Till or pulverize soil to a depth of ten inches or more. Add a nemacide to prevent potentially harmful bugs from ruining your hard work.
2. Purchase plants for your fall garden. Choose plants that are moderately frost tolerant to frost tolerant. Southeast Texas is located in USDA cold hardiness zones 8a through 9a. This means that temperatures reach lows between 20 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit. Choose plants accordingly.
3. Add slow-maturing frost-tolerant vegetables to your garden at least three months prior to the first frost. The date of the first frost varies from late October in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to as late as mid-December in the Brownsville area. Plant crops like Brussels sprouts, bulb onions, cabbage, cauliflower and garlic.
4. Incorporate other frost-tolerant plants. Frost-tolerant plants that take between two and three months to mature include broccoli, Chinese cabbage, carrots, green onions, kohlrabi and parsley.
5. Plant quick-maturing frost-tolerant vegetables for a quick fix. Frost-tolerant vegetables that mature in one to two months include beets, leaf lettuce, mustard, radishes, spinach, turnips and turnip greens.
6. Create a shock of color in your autumn garden by planting pansies in November.
7. Group frost-susceptible fall crops together. Plants like beans, corn, peas, squash and tomatoes are all frost-susceptible groups that produce vegetables until the first frost. Remove these plants at the first sign of frost and begin preparing your spring garden in autumn.
8. Plant legumes over spring and sumer blooming flower beds. The Smith County Master Gardeners advise planting legumes as a cover crop and tilling them under in spring to add extra nitrogen for the soil.
9. Install trees and shrubs in the fall in Southeast Texas. Add trees and shrubs to your garden in October or November to bring color and texture to your fall garden.
10. Plant spring flowering bulbs in the fall in preparation for the next season.
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