Fall’s mild temperatures create perfect growing conditions for cool-season crops. Autumn has distinct planting benefits: cooler air temperatures are easier on plants and gardeners, the soil is still warm, allowing roots to grow until the ground freezes, fall showers are generally plentiful, and pests and disease problems fade away in the fall.

Here are a few tips, including a harvesting chart and some of the vegetables that will extend your season, long beyond the heat of the summer: 

• The window for fall planting ends about six weeks before your area gets hit with a hard frost, usually in mid-October
• Be sure to use frost protection overnight if an early frost is expected or the crop has not matured yet. Cover plants in the early evening with sheets, newspaper, cardboard or old blankets. Use supports to keep the covering material from direct contact with the plants. 

Vegetables, from seed, and their days to harvest.

• Famous for being packed with nutrients, broccoli is tasty and easy to grow. Like the other plants on this list, the plant is quite frost tolerant.
• Cabbages can be as ornamental as they are edible! There are many different types; late cabbage varieties are perfect to plant right now. Add color to your garden with red-leaf cabbage varieties, such as ‘Ruby Ball’ or ‘Super Red’. 
• Even after a hard frost, root crops have an advantage that veggies aboveground do not – carrot, beet, turnip, radish, parsnips and rutabaga will be protected by the soil and can be dug and used any time before the ground freezes. Mulch over the tops of the plants with straw to protect the roots from freezing.
• One of the vegetable garden’s most versatile plants, lettuce comes in an amazing array of colors, shapes and tastes. English Gardens offers a variety of lettuce for fall harvests, including Buttercrunch, Green Leaf, Ruby Leaf, Green Salad Bowl, Red Salad Bowl, Mixed, Romaine, and Red Romaine!
• Spinach is a so-called super food, because it’s packed with nutrients. It’s a cinch to grow and can be eaten raw or cooked – sounds like a perfect staple to your vegetable garden!
• Kale and collards have improved flavor after a light frost. Swiss chard is also very pretty, with glossy green heart- or arrow-shaped leaves carried on colorful purple, pink, red, gold, orange, or white stalks.