Benefits of Fall Gardening

The weather is finally beginning to cool down and fall is just around the corner. Fall will be a busy time in my garden –It’s the best time for planting, bed building, path building and other big projects. Fall is like a second spring in the South.

As the overwhelming heat of summer takes a toll on gardeners like myself we also get the pleasure of being able to grow a fall garden. The weather returns to a manageable level and the onset of winter is still many months off so there is still plenty of time to grow flowers and vegetables and to plant shrubs and trees. Fall gardening can be similar to spring gardening in that plants that thrive in cooler temperatures are the best choice for the fall garden.

My fall garden planting plans for this year includes vegetables as well as flowers. Some vegetables I plan to grow in my fall garden this year are: Herbs, Tomatoes, radishes, Salad greens-Leaf lettuce, spinach, chard, peas, and peppers.

I also like to plant and transplant perenials- like Asters, Echinacea, and Veronica; bi-annuals- digitalis and hollyhocks, and sow annual plant seeds of cosmos, bachlor buttons, marigolds, larkspur, and poppies. I find Fall gardening in the Lowcountry to be very satisfying. With cooler temperatures and fewer insects, I can spend more time enjoying the garden and less time maintaining it. Fall is my favorite season to be outside even if I have to suffer sneezing and watering eyes because of Ragweed!