No matter where you live in the country, chances are your summer vegetables are on their last legs. Hopefully you’ve had a productive and fruitful season and gotten your fill of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, corn, beans, peppers and eggplant and are ready to move on to some cold weather vegetables.

You’ll have to start by taking out the old plants. After you remove those plants (and toss them into your compost bin or pile!), add a little more organic matter (i.e. compost) to your existing soil to make a welcoming home for your cool weather plants.

If you thought there were too many choices for your summer garden, look at what’s available for Fall planting: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, swiss chard, peas, Asian greens, spinach and a wide variety of lettuces. Most of these plants are compact in size and, with the exception of peas, don’t need staking. This is also a great time to plant garlic, onion and shallot sets.

The good part of planting now is once the rains come, you won’t need to water. That will make for a low maintenance garden that you can peer out to on those wet, rainy afternoons. Most of the vegetables I’ve suggested take between 45 and 75 days to reach maturity and will be fabulous when the farmer’s market is long gone and the only choices for produce are from South America.

Debra Togliatti has her own gardening business: Weed It and Reap: Garden Restoration and Design and is a teacher who gets young children involved in gardening and nature experiences. She lives in the Bay Area of Northern California.

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