Planting a fall garden

Looking for a little help.

Getting ready to build a 4x6 elevated garden bed at the house to do some light gardening for the family. I live on St. Simons Island.

I've planted spring gardens in the past but this will be my first time planting a Fall garden, and my first time planting this far south.

What vegetables would grow well here? And when should I look at planting them?

I have not raised a garden in several years. When I did garden I raised both a Spring and a Fall garden. I have successfully raised broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, edible pod/snow peas, radishes, spinach and lettuce. I'm not sure about St. Simons.

I found I had to grow my own plants for those that are transplanted. There was not a reliable source of transplants for sale at that time of year. I would mail order the seeds and start most of them in pots at this time of year and transplant about 6 weeks later for most species (except Brussel sprouts which were transplanted by now). The carrots, spinach, lettuce and peas would be direct seeded at about the time the transplants were set out.

If you elect to start your transplants from seed I would encourage you to try more than one variety of each species. For instance, "Green Comet" broccoli couldn't be beat for a Spring crop, but was a complete dud as a Fall planting.

Consult the UGA Extension web site. I think they still produce a planting guide with recommended planting dates for various crops. Also, if there is much commercial vegetable production in SE Ga, your county extension agent may have some very useful experience and information. You may be able to arrange a meeting when you take in your soil sample for analysis. When you fill out the form for the analysis indicate that it is for a vegetable garden. The report you get back will give a general recommendation for lime and a specific fertilizer recommendation for various crop groupings. Considering your location, it might also be informative to consult with the UFL extension web site.

Or, you could do like most folks and plant collards and turnips and forget about anything else that they have no idea can be produced in the area.

35 Whelen said:

https://secure.caes.uga.edu/extension/publications/files/html/C963/C963VegeChart.pdf

Click to expand...

Are those dates specific for my area? I couldn't tell...

Also when they say planting dates, is that from seed?

You could plant another summer garden down there tomatoes, cucumber, squash, egg plant, peppers and make before frost.
Winter or fall garden would be collards, turnips, rutabaga, cabbage, broccoli and that type of stuff.