Fall Gardens Start NOW in zone 7
July marks the beginning of the fall vegetable gardening season in our zone 7. Whether you are a beginning gardener or an expert, there are many foods you can grow at home starting now that will be ready to harvest by fall. The cooler nights of fall provide the right conditions for the plants to mature before frost. Some vegetables will be more successful if the seeds are container-started in part-shade this month and transplanted out into the garden when the soil is cooler. These include cool-season vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, leaf lettuce, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. After a month in containers, the plants should be well-rooted and ready to be hardened-off by giving them more and more sunlight over a period of 3 to 6 days. Lettuce seeds will not germinate in temperatures over 70-degrees F. In order to start lettuce for a fall harvest the seeds are planted in seed starting mix and kept cool until they emerge. Then the seedlings are grow...