Can't believe it's August already. The garden is producing a lot now, and i'm busy not only weeding and tending the garden, but also harvesting and preserving food for the winter. Now is also the time to start thinking about fall crops. This photo shows a fall crop of swiss chard i started a couple of weeks ago. You have to take into consideration how long a particular crop takes to grow. So, for instance, you wouldn't want to start parsnips now as they take 100 days or more to mature. At least here in CT, we don't have enough good weather for the parsnips to mature well at this point in the season. There are lots of crops you can grow now, but always look at your seed packets and see how long it says the particular crop takes to mature. There can be differences even between varieties of broccoli, with some maturing earlier than others. Beets, turnips and carrots are good choices as they mature fairly quickly. In a week or so i'll be planting a fall crop of lettuce, bok choy, among others. You also have to think about soil temperature, some vegetable seeds will not germinate in soil that's too warm. Way back in spring i talked about the benefits of a soil thermometer, and one would come in handy now as well. Pelleted lettuce seed will germinate in higher soil temperatures than untreated seed. It's a bit more expensive but worth it if you want to plant sooner. A shade cover is also useful. You can put it over a part of your garden for about a week before you plant. It will shade the soil and bring the temp of the soil down, so that cold weather crops will germinate for you. I put one over a part of my garden and planted pelleted lettuce seed 10 days ago or so, the lettuce is up and looking good, because the soil was cool enough for the seed to germinate. Broccoli, cabbage, kale are good fall crops if the soil temp is low enough for them to germinate. So, think of what you want to eat this fall, and don't let that empty space where you harvested garlic, or onions, go to waste, plant more food!