<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Your veggie garden might look a little sad as summer draws to a close, but there&amp;#039;s hope: Now&amp;#039;s the time to plant second-season vegetables. There are plenty of varieties that not only prefer milder fall temperatures, but also taste great once the chill kicks in.  Selection &amp;quot;Second-season crops aren&amp;#039;t difficult to grow,&amp;quot; says Chelsey Fields, vegetable product manager at seed and plant purveyor W. Atlee Burpee &amp;amp;amp; Co., based in Warminster, Pa. &amp;quot;A lot of greens and root crops are direct-sow and don&amp;#039;t need a lot of special attention.&amp;quot; Leaf lettuces; brassicas, including kale, cauliflower, and cabbage; carrots; radishes; broccoli; beets; green onions; spinach; and turnips are some of the many veggies that are good candidates for the second shift in your garden. Even perennial herbs such as thyme, rosemary, and sage can grow into the colder months.  &amp;quot;If you throw some straw mulch over your herbs, there&amp;#039;s a chance you can use them up to Thanksgiving, and then they&amp;#039;re established right away for spring,&amp;quot; Fields says. Prepping and Planting If you&amp;#039;ve already done a first crop this year, your soil is probably ready for a second planting. If this is your first planting for the season, you need to start with soil that&amp;#039;s well-amended, drained, loose, and free of large debris.  Timing is important. You need to know the number of days required for each of these plants to reach maturity, which ranges from around 30 days to 70, and you need to keep track of impending frost. Fields recommends succession planting. That means starting with the earlier crops, such as lettuce and carrots, and moving on to the later ones that can withstand colder temperatures, such as radishes, and then loose leaf lettuces.  Mulching with straw around root crops and brassicas is a good idea because the mulch will help to retain moisture in the soil, suppress weed growth, and keep the soil warmer for a longer period so that you might be able to harvest post-frost, which some of these veggies benefit from. &amp;quot;Carrots will really sweeten up, and your broccoli and cauliflower will get this really complex, unique flavor after they get some cold to them,&amp;quot; Fields says.  Caring Two great things about fall growing are that you&amp;#039;ll encounter fewer bugs and use less water, since it won&amp;#039;t evaporate as quickly. Still, pay attention to temperature spikes.  &amp;quot;If you&amp;#039;re seeing a day in the week when the temperatures are going to peak a little bit, you&amp;#039;ll want to water after the midmorning, when the soil has warmed up so it can absorb the water\u2014but before nighttime so the water&amp;#039;s not freezing, either,&amp;quot; Fields says. Frost Protection Second-season vegetables are by nature hardy varieties, Fields says, but some won&amp;#039;t survive the first hard frost. One solution is a frost cover, a lightweight-fabric row cover you can buy at garden stores and place on top of growing veggies once overnight temperatures start to dip. A frost cover will trap the warm daytime air and create a microclimate. If you see a daytime temperature rise, make sure to vent the sides so it&amp;#039;s not trapping too much heat.  Harvest The fall growing season is much shorter than summer, so keep a close eye on your veggies and be ready to harvest. But, Fields says, don&amp;#039;t panic at the first sign of frost and pull everything out\u2014your crops may still have some life in them. &amp;quot;Give them a taste, because sometimes they&amp;#039;ll bounce back. If the plants are hardy they can push past it,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s all an experiment.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/lawn-garden/how-to/a12519/your-guide-to-planting-fall-vegetables-15884167/>