Things are pretty quiet in my fall vegetable garden right now, but just because it’s October and winter is right around the corner, you shouldn’t miss out on the spectacular performances being conducted on the stage of the garden’s raised beds.

Here in Central Pennsylvania it’s almost time to plant the fall garlic seed that will grow into enormous cloves of delicious gourmet garlic by the middle of next summer. Sure you can plant garlic next spring, but in most areas you’ll get healthier plants, larger cloves, and better results from a fall sowing of this cold hardy root vegetable.

Yesterday’s entry examined strategies for planning and planting a fall vegetable garden, today we’ll look at tips for raising, harvesting, and selecting crops for growing fall vegetables. Fall vegetables don’t require any special care; in fact you’ll spend less time caring for your fall crops because of the favorable autumn growing conditions. The plants will grow rapidly at first and gradually slow as the days become shorter and colder.

Cold Frames are great for stretching the garden’s growing season at both ends. In the spring cold frames provide a sheltered area for seed starting and to harden off transplants that were grown indoors. During the fall, cold frames enable you to harvest fresh vegetables longer by protecting your plants from frost and cold temperatures.