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September 14, 2017 · 2 Comments

What to Plant in Autumn: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Gardening· Gardening tips

Autumn Gardening isn’t just about Clean-up

Think about gardening in the autumn and you might get mental images of raking leaves, clearing foliage, and putting the garden to bed for the winter. The game doesn’t have to be over though. There are plenty of things you can do in the Fall to grow cool season crops and prepare for next year’s edible garden.

Some of the things you could be doing now include growing leafy greens and planting garlic, onions, bulbs, and Christmas potatoes. Let’s not forget about soil building and things we can do for wildlife.

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Grow potatoes that will be ready for Christmas dinner

Plant Christmas Potatoes

Imagine digging up fresh new potatoes for Christmas dinner — if you plant them now, you can. Though potatoes from this year’s crops won’t crop until next year, seed potatoes that have been kept dormant will start growing now and produce crops in 12 weeks.

You can keep your own potatoes dormant all summer or you can purchase early seed potatoes now. Santa Claus’s bag of gifts will look paltry next to your clever sack of holiday spuds!

USA: Order potatoes that can be planted in the Fall
UK: Order potatoes for planting in the Autumn
More on growing potatoes for Christmas

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

With planning, you can be in fresh salad greens all year long

Grow Autumn Veggies

You can get away with growing edibles all the year round if you give them proper protection, light, and warmth. Grow them in greenhouses, hot beds, cloches, and tunnels to help fill in the hungry gap and keep your green thumb from getting bored. Just be careful when growing autumn and winter veggies that you choose the right varieties and techniques. Get the book The Year Round Vegetable Gardener and learn more from these articles:

15 Vegetables that you can Grow in Autumn
Grow vegetables in cold weather with a Hot Bed
Plant these Speedy Fall Veggies for a last Hurrah
Learn more about cool season vegetables

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

If your garden is too cold in the winter, plant garlic in modules

Plant Garlic

Those who have tried planting garlic in spring find out soon enough that they should have planted in Autumn. Your crop will be bigger and healthier if you give it a head start and you can plant under protection if your winters are cold or wet. Once planted, I place my module-grown garlic near the house or in the greenhouse to give them cover. They get planted out in the garden once it warms up in March.

Buy garlic to plant
How to grow Organic Garlic
How to choose which Garlic to plant

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Sets planted in autumn have a head start on spring planted onions

Plant Onion Sets

Not all onions can be planted in Autumn but those that can will crop earlier than spring planted sets. Just like garlic, autumn-planted onions have a head start so they’ll grow quicker, be less prone to bolting, and will produce a much larger harvest. They can also be planted into modules first if you’re afraid they won’t make it outside in the garden.

Buy onion sets to plant
Tips on planting onion sets in the Fall
Tips on growing onions and shallots from the RHS

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Green tomatoes can be cooked or ripened off indoors

Green Vegetables

As temperatures begin to cool you might be left with unripe vegetables. There are two things that you can do with them at this point — cook them or try to ripen them. The most common crop to linger on in a green state are tomatoes, squash, eggplants, and pumpkins. Here’s some ideas for making sure they get eaten:

Make Green Tomato Chutney: a savoury preserve
Green Pumpkin Soup Recipe
How to ripen your summer crops before the fall frost

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Layer bulbs in pots for a continuous show of flowers from February to May

Plant Spring Bulbs

To have beautiful displays of spring flowers you need to think ahead. Bulb blossoms like tulips, snowdrops, crocus, and hyacinths all need to be planted in Autumn in order to bloom the following year. They need the cold season to spur their growth and you can plant them direct in the soil or in pots and containers. One of my favourite things to do is to crowd and layer bulbs in terracotta pots to set by the front door. They never fail to bring a smile to my face in early spring.

Order spring bulbs
Layer bulbs in pots for explosions of spring color
Five Fall Bulbs to Plant for Spring Color
Daffodil planting and growing tips

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Apply compost and manure to garden beds in the autumn

Soil Building

The single most important soil builder you can add to your garden is compost. You can add it as mulch all year round but applying it in the Autumn ensures that tiny organisms and worms will have a chance to incorporate it into the soil before spring. You can also use fallen leaves to create some of the best garden compost around so don’t throw it away after raking it up. Leaf mould improves soil structure and drainage and also creates habitat for beneficial micro-organisms to grow — it’s also free if you make your own. So don’t forget to apply compost and manure and to make leaf mould this Autumn.

Fall Leaves: a valuable soil builder
More on making Leaf Mould
Using Chicken Manure to fertilize the soil
Build your soil using Lasagne Gardening

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Don’t make your garden too tidy — leave places where wildlife can find shelter

Care for Wildlife

Dead foliage, logs, sticks, and other ‘garden mess’ creates shelter for wildlife so don’t clear it all away. Be mindful of picking off slugs, snails, aphids, and other pests up to the first frost but remember to set space aside for creatures to hibernate. Hedgehogs, frogs, solitary bees, and ladybirds to name a few. Also, keep your bird feeders full year-round but especially in the cooler months. Our avian friends need help in autumn and winter and are fun to watch from the window too.

Build a Wildlife Pond in the Garden
Build a Bug Hotel
Pick pests off garden plants up to the first frost
Six Reasons to NOT clean up the garden this Fall
Make a Hedgehog House for the Garden

What to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

Pick autumn berries to make Hedgerow Jelly

Autumn Fruit & Berries

Apples, raspberries, blackberries, elderberries, and many more delicious fruits are ready for picking in Autumn. Make sure to keep on top of the picking and to remove any apple windfalls from the ground, where they rot and attract disease and vermin. On a sunny day, make the most of it and head for the hedgerows where wild berries are ripe for the picking. It’s a good excuse to get outside for a walk and you can use your gleanings to make jam, wine, and pies.

Hedgerow Jelly Recipe
Picking & Drying Rose-hips for Tea
How to Make Apple Cider with a DIY PressWhat to Plant in Fall: Christmas potatoes, onions, & leafy greens

More Lists of Things to Do

If you’d like to see even more things you could be doing in the garden this Autumn, here are several comprehensive Fall garden check-lists. Have a read and enjoy getting things done in the crisp Autumn air.

Fall Gardening Check-list
10 Gardening Jobs for Late Fall
Fall Garden Check-list
After the Harvest Fall Gardening List
7 Tips to Prepare Your Vegetable Garden for Winter
Putting Your Vegetable Beds to Bed

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  • The Lazy Gardener: 22 Time & Effort Saving Gardening TipsThe Lazy Gardener: 22 Time & Effort Saving Gardening Tips
  • Tips for Starting a Vegetable Garden in the FallTips for Starting a Vegetable Garden in the Fall
  • 15 Vegetables that you can Grow in Autumn15 Vegetables that you can Grow in Autumn
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. misti says

    September 14, 2017 at 2:20 pm

    Those potatoes look delicious! We’ve not had luck with potatoes in my part of the US. I’m sowing most of my seeds this week with a few later on in October.

    Reply
    • lovelygreens says

      September 15, 2017 at 6:06 pm

      I’m curious — what part of the US do you live in? It it too warm for spuds?

      Reply

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Instagram post 2192329700471203649_808153683 Strawberry season may seem a long ways off but there are things you can do now to ensure a bumper harvest:
1. Spread a mulch of compost or composted manure over the soil near your strawberry plants. Or in the area you're planning on planting them.
2. If you have an established patch, leave the old foliage on to protect the plants' crowns from snow and frost. Tidy it up later in late winter to early spring.
3. ID any plants that are three years old or older. Remove them and plan to plant new plants in their place. Older strawberry plants produce a lot less berries than younger ones.
4. Order and plant bare-root strawberry plants. They're cheaper than potted plants and get planted in the winter, just as long as the soil isn't frozen. Here in Britain you can plant them pretty much from now until early March. In colder regions, wait until the soil is work-able but get them in before early April.
5. Make sure to get a mix of June bearing, ever-bearing, and day neutral strawberry varieties. That way you'll have berries from June to September.
6. If you're expecting a lot of snow, completely cover your strawberry bed with straw, dried leaves, or another dry mulch. I've seen this tactic keep strawberry plants alive through the winter as far north as Scandinavia. Remove it in early spring.

Any tips of your own? 🍓
Instagram post 2187969248177768565_808153683 I share a lot of natural soap recipes but they’re usually made with the cold-process method. It’s fairly involved and includes an aspect that beginners shy away from: handling lye. That’s why I’m so excited to share with you this rose facial soap recipe from the @nerdyfarmwife 's new book, Easy Homemade Melt and Pour Soaps. These would make gorgeous handmade gifts and you can make them and use them the same day. See the recipe and check out Jan's new book over on my website -- link in profile🌹
Instagram post 2185577709338103538_808153683 How brave is this tender little nasturtium to bloom in November? I hope it brightens your day as much as it has mine 💚
Instagram post 2184336904980200044_808153683 Even in November the small garden pond in my allotment looks lovely. Not only that but it's home to goodness knows how many aquatic animals. Frogs, aquatic snails, tiny micro-organisms that I'll never see or know. Then there's the garden birds that swoop down for a mid-summer's drink. If there's one project that I'd recommend getting done before spring it's building your own small pond. If you need instructions, I've shared how I built mine via the link on my profile 🌱
Instagram post 2182892588034291298_808153683 Did you see the frozen berries in my Stories today? I’ve got berries on the brain and need your help. Although I love how unusual they are, I've decided to replace both my white strawberries (called pineberries) and yellow raspberries (All gold) with traditional coloured varieties. I'm considering Polka raspberries as they're an earlier fruiting autumn raspberry but am open to suggestions. No idea which strawberry variety though yet. Just BIG and RED🍓
Instagram post 2182218939484670614_808153683 The last blueberry of 2019 clinging on for dear life. As you saw in my last video, the allotment is nearly prepared for winter. Just a few more things to do before the entire process begins again next year. That’s one of the best things about gardening, it’s a job that’s never finished 🍂💚
Instagram post 2181461162399218012_808153683 The thing I love most about my home garden (at the moment) is looking through the rose arbour. There are still a few roses blooming but it's the frame it creates against the trees that I like the best. What do you love about your garden? 💚
Instagram post 2180738272586457298_808153683 Sometimes in autumn the air is still and crisp and the light a perfect shade of gold. It’s the kind of day that just begs for you to come out and play. Come spend this day with me in the full version of my latest video. It’s live on YouTube and you can get there via the link on my profile 🌗🌞🍂🌼
Instagram post 2180082751542046999_808153683 *New Video* A lot of you have been asking about the allotment garden. I've not featured it as much recently because I've been sticking closer to home to care for Louis, but don't worry, all is well. In today's new video I share the new developments on the additional half-plot, take down my raspberry canes, prune the lavender, and have a potter around the plot in that gorgeous autumn sunshine. Though the day started off with frost I was so warm by the end that I *nearly* took my jacket off. Have a watch and let me know if you enjoyed it. Use the link in my profile to take you over to the video.
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