It’s the Fourth of July and we know what’s on every gardener’s mind: when can I start my fall garden?

Ok, maybe right now we are thinking about watermelon and family gatherings, but soon we are going to be getting ready for our fall vegetable gardens. The idea of a fall vegetable garden might be new for some of you but fall vegetable gardens are many gardeners’ favorites. There are several reasons for this: the weather starts to cool down, some of the pest life cycles are out of sync with fall gardens, and many gardeners say vegetables grown in fall gardens just taste better.

One of the biggest challenges associated with fall gardens is soil temperature. Many of our vegetable seeds like to germinate with temperatures somewhere around 70 degrees. However, in July and August exposed soil can reach 120 degrees. Any seed planted in soils with these types of temperatures is not going to germinate. But you have a couple of alternatives.

First you can just start your seeds indoors. This is a good method for broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, leaf lettuce, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage among others. If you plan to start your fall vegetables indoors, now is a good time to start those seeds.

If you prefer to start your seeds outdoors, you should think about providing some sort of shade for the soil where you plan to place your seeds. This will help keep the temperatures down a bit. If you do want to plant your seeds outdoors, consider digging a small trench in which to place your seeds. This trench will put your seeds down lower in the ground where the soil temperatures are a little bit lower. It would still be a good idea to cover them to protect them from the sun. But as your plants begin to grow you can just keep filling in the trench a little bit until you reach the level of the surrounding soil. Starting your seeds indoors sounds easier to me.

If you start your seeds indoors, they should be ready to go in the ground in about 5 weeks or so leaving them plenty of time to produce a crop before the annual first freeze date of November 15^th.

When your transplants are ready to go in the ground, take a few days to “harden off” your transplants. Hardening off is the process of acclimating your plants to outdoor life gradually rather than moving them from your indoor germination station to the heat and sun outdoors. To harden your plants off, introduce them the outdoors gradually, preferably in an area that gets dappled sun. You will still need to keep an eye on them and keep them watered but in a few days, they will be ready to take their spot in your fall garden.

If you would like more information on which crops are best for fall gardens and when to plant, you can go to the Lawn and Garden Help section of our website and then click on vegetables. Good luck!

You can get answers to all your gardening questions by calling the Tulsa Master Gardeners Help Line at 918-746-3701, dropping by our Diagnostic Center at 4116 E. 15th Street, or by emailing us at mg@tulsamastergardeners.org.

Photo:Oklahoma State University Agricultural Communications Services