A Small Fall Garden Can Keep Producing Long After Summer Tomatoes Are Gone

A compact fall garden can keep producing after summer crops fade, with cool-season vegetables such as kale, spinach, lettuce, carrots, and radishes filling the gaps – Shutterstock

Summer gardens tend to get all the glory. Tomatoes ripen by the bowlful, cucumbers appear overnight, and zucchini somehow manages to produce enough for an entire neighborhood. Then September arrives, the tomato vines start looking exhausted, and it is tempting to call the garden finished for the year.

That would leave a surprising amount of gardening on the table. A small fall garden can keep producing fresh vegetables well after heat-loving crops fade, and many cool-season vegetables actually prefer the milder conditions of autumn.