2022 - my first ever attempt at a fall garden and it was a huge success! 

Why not?!
Well, I’m 64 years old and I’d never grown a fall garden before! Why? Because I didn’t know you could or should. 

Usually, August and early September are the months for harvesting and preserving and, then, the season is over. 

But our first frost date is a predicted October 8th  - that’s about another month of gardening AND there are plants that don’t care about those first frosts and will grow well until the a big freeze hits. 

First, let me say that I started late. Things should have been planted in July, to have them mature enough for the cold weather.

With that said, most of my plants were just an experiment to see what would happen. Not everything matured enough to be harvested before the frosts came, but I learned lots and that is definitely a win.

I planted beans, cucumbers, carrots, peas, and parsnips in August, plus, I had my plants that I had started in the spring.

Eating a fresh strawberry off the vine and harvesting pea pods on October 18th, in a zone 5, in Canada? Priceless.

We have had frosts for a couple of weeks, now, but between cloth row covers and my big, lovely, greenhouse, I still have peppers, some cherry tomatoes, those precious little strawberries, Swiss Chard (I need recipes for this), carrots (they are tiny little baby carrots, but, still, they are carrots), parsnips (which should flourish in the spring) … and peas!!! 

I have been planning the end of my growing season, knowing that I still had a few peppers that were still changing colour and I was ready to put the rest to sleep for the winter … and then I found the strawberries and peas and I’m in gardening mode all over again!! 

This homesteading journey is fascinating. 

I can’t wait til next year. I’m a wiser fardener now,
- Debbie