Your Fall Garden in Bledsoe County: What to Plant Right Now

If you have any kind of garden space — a raised bed in the backyard, a few containers on the porch, even a decent patch of ground that gets some decent sun — the next few weeks are some of the best gardening weeks of the whole year here in Bledsoe County. Fall gardening in Middle Tennessee is genuinely underrated. The air cools down, the worst of the bugs are mostly gone, and the vegetables that do best in this weather taste better than anything you'd grow in summer.

What to Plant Right Now

The University of Tennessee Extension recommends getting cool-season crops in the ground through September and into early October for a solid fall harvest. Right now, you can still direct sow spinach, lettuce, mustard greens, turnip greens, and kale. If you have transplants of broccoli, cabbage, or cauliflower, get them in the ground this week — they need time to size up before the hard frosts arrive.

Collard greens are one of the most reliable fall crops in East Tennessee, and they just happen to be one of the most rewarding. Plant them now and you'll be picking through November, December, and even into January and February during mild stretches. Here's the secret that every Southern gardener knows: collards and kale taste sweeter after a frost. The cold converts the starches in the leaves to sugar. So don't rush to harvest before the first frost — wait for it.

Fall Garden Tips for Bledsoe County

First frosts in our area typically arrive in mid to late October. That gives you a solid growing window for anything you plant now. A few things worth keeping in mind:

Raised beds warm up faster in the morning and drain better than in-ground gardens, which makes them ideal for fall greens. If you're starting from seed, plant a little deeper than you would in spring — the soil surface dries out faster in fall sunshine. And amend your soil with compost now if you haven't already. Fall is the best time to improve your garden soil because the organic matter breaks down over winter and conditions the ground for spring.

Garlic is the other big fall planting opportunity that a lot of folks miss. Plant garlic cloves in October — pointed end up, a few inches deep, spaced about six inches apart — and they'll spend all winter slowly growing roots, then shoot up in spring for a July harvest. There's something satisfying about planting something in the cold and trusting it to work while you're not watching.

When the Garden Tells You It's Done for the Day

There's a particular kind of satisfaction that comes from a fall afternoon in the garden — cool air, good work, the smell of soil and something green growing. And when you're done and your hands are dirty and you'd rather let someone else handle the cooking, that's what The Butter Dish in Pikeville is here for. Come in, warm up, and let us feed you right. Check out our menu — you've earned it.