Right now, before you forget, put a rubber band around your wrist to remind  you of one gardening task that cannot be postponed: Planting seeds for fall  garden vegetables. As summer draws to a close, gardens everywhere can morph into  a tapestry of delicious greens, from tender lettuce to frost-proof spinach, with  a sprinkling of red mustard added for spice. In North America’s southern half,  as long as seeds germinate in late July or early August, fall gardens can grow  the best cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower you’ve ever tasted. In colder  climates it’s prime time to sow carrots, rutabagas, and turnips to harvest in  the fall. Filling space vacated by spring crops with summer-sown vegetables will  keep your garden productive well into fall, and even winter.

Granted, the height of summer is not the best time to start tender seedlings  of anything. Hot days, sparse rain, and heavy pest pressure must be factored  into a sound planting plan, and then there’s the challenge of keeping fall  plantings on schedule. A great way you can get rid of pests and still add a decoration to your garden is to get a pest-free bird feeder from ballachy.com. But you can meet all of the basic requirements for a  successful, surprisingly low-maintenance fall garden by following the steps  outlined below. The time you invest now will pay off big time as you continue to  harvest fresh veggies from your garden long after frost has killed your tomatoes  and blackened your beans.

1. Starting Seeds

Count back 12 to 14 weeks from your average first fall frost date (see “Fall  Garden Planting Schedule” below) to plan your first task: starting seeds of  broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale indoors, where  germination conditions are better than they are in the garden. Some garden  centers carry a few cabbage family seedlings for fall planting, but don’t expect  a good selection. The only sure way to have vigorous young seedlings is to grow  your own, using the same procedures you would use in spring (see Start Your Own Seeds). As soon as the seedlings are three  weeks old, be ready to set them out during a period of cloudy weather.

If you’re already running late, you can try direct-seeding fast-growing  varieties of broccoli, kale or kohlrabi. Sow the seeds in shallow furrows  covered with half an inch of potting soil. Keep the soil moist until the  seedlings germinate, then thin them. The important thing is to get the plants up  and growing in time to catch the last waves of summer heat.

When is too late? The end of July marks the close of planting season for  cabbage family crops in northern areas (USDA Zones 6 and lower); August is  perfect in warmer climates. Be forewarned: If cabbage family crops are set out  after temperatures have cooled, they grow so slowly that they may not make a  crop. Fortunately, leafy greens (keep reading) do not have this problem.

2. Think Soil First

In addition to putting plenty of supernutritious food on your table, your  fall garden provides an opportunity to manage soil fertility, and even control  weeds. Rustic greens including arugula, mustard, and turnips make great  triple-use fall garden crops. They taste great, their broad leaves shade out  weeds, and nutrients they take up in fall are cycled back into the soil as the  winter-killed residue rots. If you have time, enrich the soil with compost or  aged manure to replenish micronutrients and give the plants a strong start.

You can also use vigorous leafy greens to “mop up” excess nitrogen left  behind by spring crops (the organic matter in soil can hold quite a bit of  nitrogen, but some leaches away during winter). Space that has recently been  vacated by snap beans or garden peas is often a great place to grow heavy  feeders such as spinach and cabbage family crops. When sown into corn stubble,  comparatively easy-to-please leafy greens such as lettuce and mustard are great  at finding hidden caches of nitrogen.

3. Try New Crops

Several of the best crops for your fall garden may not only be new to your  garden, but new to your kitchen, too. Set aside small spaces to experiment with  nutty arugula, crunchy Chinese cabbage, and super-cold-hardy mâche (corn salad).  Definitely put rutabaga on your “gotta try it” list: Dense and nutty “Swede  turnips” are really good (and easy!) when grown in the fall. Many Asian greens  have been specially selected for growing in fall, too. Examples include ‘Vitamin  Green’ spinach-mustard, supervigorous mizuna and glossy green tatsoi (also  spelled tah tsai), which is beautiful enough to use as flower bed edging.

As you consider the possibilities, veer toward open-pollinated varieties for  leafy greens, which are usually as good as — or better than — hybrids when grown  in home gardens. The unopened flower buds of collards and kale pass for the  gourmet vegetable called broccolini, and the young green seed pods of immature  turnips and all types of mustard are great in stir-fries and salads. Allow your  strongest plants to produce mature seeds. Collect some of the seeds for  replanting, and scatter others where you want future greens to grow. In my  garden, arugula, mizuna and turnips naturalize themselves with very little help  from me, as long as I leave a few plants to flower and set seed each year.

With broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and their close cousins, hybrid  varieties generally excel in terms of fast, uniform growth, so this is one  veggie group for which the hybrid edge is a huge asset. Breeding work is  underway to develop better open-pollinated varieties for organic growers, but  for now, trusted hybrids such as ‘Belstar’ broccoli, ‘Gonzales’ cabbage or ‘Snow  Crown’ cauliflower are usually the best choices.

Finally, be sure to leave ample space for garlic, which is planted later on,  when you can smell winter in the air. Shallots, multiplying onions, and  perennial “nest” onions are also best planted in mid-fall, after the soil has  cooled. In short-season areas these alliums are planted in September; elsewhere  they are planted in October.