Outdoor Learning Station: Fall Veggie Garden

Fall is the best time of year to plant a school vegetable garden in Alabama. While spring vegetable gardens are educational and fun, they can be less than ideal in a school setting as harvesting occurs mostly in summer months when students are out of school. Fall vegetable gardens can be planted and harvested during school months and provide nearly endless educational opportunities - soil calculations, measuring spacing between plants, soil and water requirements, plant anatomy, plant life cycle, nutrition, composting, and more! 
  
Use the links below to create and use a fall vegetable garden in your outdoor classroom.
Why a Fall Veggie Garden  |  Which Veggies To Plant  |  How To Improve the Garden  |  Activity Resources
 

Why is fall the best time of year for veggie gardening? 		  
  • The best time to plant a fall garden is in August & September as students return to school.
  • Students will be able to participate in the entire growing season as most fall produce needs 60 to 90 days before it is ready to harvest, meaning it will be ready from late October into December while students are in school.
  • Cooler weather makes working in the garden more enjoyable. It also means fewer insect pests and plant diseases as the season progresses, less pesky weeds, a longer harvest period, and more rainfall.
  • You can extend the growing season even longer with a cold frame or row cover cloth.
  • Fall leaves become available for mulching (and they are free).
 

Which vegetables should I plant?		  
  
There are a lot of vegetable plants that can be grown in a fall garden. Generally speaking, these plants need the cooler weather that fall provides to reach maturity. Below is a list of some fall veggies you can consider growing in your school garden.
  • Broccoli (Best to purchase trays of the plants)
  • Brussels sprouts (Best to purchase trays of the plants)
  • Cabbage (Best to purchase trays of the plants)
  • Cauliflower (Best to purchase trays of the plants)
  • Collards (Best to purchase trays of the plants)
  • Cucumbers (Best to purchase trays of the plants)
  • Onions (Best to purchase sets of the plants)
  • *Leaf lettuce, kale and other salad greens (Plant by seed)
  • *Mustard greens (Plant by seed)
  • *Spinach (Plant by seed)
  • *Carrots (Plant by seed)
  • *Turnips (Plant by seed)
Fall Vegetable Garden Tasting
University Place (Madison Co)
*When planting these seeds, you may want to mix the seeds with sand. The seeds are so tiny that a pinch of just seeds would probably contain 20 seeds, making it difficult to spread the seeds over the garden row. By mixing them with sand, the seeds are dispersed more evenly and a pinch will not include as many seeds. A good rule is to use 4 times as much sand as seeds (4 tsp of sand to one tsp of seeds). This way, as you sow the seeds, it spreads them out along the row better so that you don’t have to pull as many when you thin them at a later date.

Basics of Fall Vegetable Gardening (ACES) - Excellent resource for more information about fall vegetable gardening. It covers everything you need to know to have a successful fall vegetable garden at your school: preparing the site, selecting plants, when to plant, water and fertilizing, pest management, and frost protection. 
 
   
Companion Planting: Improve Your Garden  

Consider how plants grow in nature - there is a mix of species in one area (each with different functions and needs) rather than a large group of a single species. We tend to plant in a more monoculture-style when we garden. Grouping plants of the same species together certainly simplifies maintenance and makes identification easier, but when it comes to edible gardens, companion planting is best.
Companion planting is the act of planting certain plants near others to enhance their quality and growth. Simply put, some plants grow better when planted near certian plants than when near others or when alone. Some benefits to companion planting include:
  • natural pest and disease control
  • increased pollination
  • minimal weeds
  • improved water retention
  • habitat for beneficial insects
  • maximized use of space
  • bigger yields
Download a free Companion Planting Chart (by Food Gardening Network)  to see which vegetables should be planted near each other for improved quality and growth. Their website also has other free guides including What to Compost and Plants for Bug Control.
 

Activity Resources

Below are free activity sources related to vegetable gardening and plants:

AWF's Outdoor Classroom Field Investigation Activities
  • Plant Growth Investigation (2nd) (Word Doc / PDF) - Students will grow bean plants from seeds, and record their observations as the plants grow over a two week period.  Each group of plants will test a different variable (water, soil or sunlight), and the students will compare their results at the end of the investigation.  
  • Parts of a Plant (2nd) (Word Doc / PDF) - Students find two different flowers in the outdoor classroom to study and compare as they draw pictures of the plants and identify the plants’ flowers, leaves and stems.
  • Parts of a Plant (4th)  (Version #1: Word Doc / PDF) (Version #2: Word Doc / PDF) |  Interactive Lesson Plan - Students explore the outdoor classroom to find a plant with a flower, and then they draw it, label its parts, and answer questions about how its internal and external structures help the plant survive, grow, and reproduce. 
  • What's the Scoop on Soil? (4th) (Word Doc  /  PDF) - Students learn about the soils in your outdoor clasroom as they investigate the properties of four different soil samples and examine the soils' texture, color, capacity to retain water, and ability to support plant growth.
  • Plants, Plants, and More Plants (7th) (Word Doc / PDF) - Students explore the outdoor classroom to observe and document what animal behaviors and specialized plant structures lead to new plants growing. 

The links below are to kid-friendly webpages that will help your students explore and research the gardening and plants in general:
  • Use AWF's "Investigate Growing Your Food" webpage to help your students understand the benefits of growing your own food and how it can be done. 
  • Use AWF's "Investigate Plant Anatomy" webpage to help your students understand the basic structures of plants and their functions. 


 










  .