Autumn is the time for winding down and relaxing, so they say. It’s when you are supposed to harvest the bounty of summer that you planted in spring, and sip your pumpkin spice lattes. This approach isn’t quite wrong, but it’s not the whole story. Fall is also a stealth time to get a head start on spring and start planting. This spring, when you’re waiting for the ground to thaw so it can be worked, my little plants already have roots.
Garlic is the poster child for fall-planted annual crops, because it refuses to grow any other way. If you wait until spring to plant your cloves, the resulting bulbs will be pitifully small. Greens like spinach, kale, radicchio, and other cold-tolerant varieties can benefit from fall planting as well.
