A good way to keep insects away from your plants is to grow them out of sync with the insects’ cycles. Fall gardening is an ideal time to grow cool weather crops and avoid pests.

I’ve pulled out cabbage and bush peas, and will replant with new peas, greens, carrots and hopefully a few extra cabbage plants within the next couple of weeks. Crops, such as brassicas and greens, are ideal feeding areas for insects in the spring, but can grow relatively pest free in the fall because the insects are well past larval stage.

For example, I’m still picking cabbage loopers off my broccoli. When I blanch a pot full, I have to look for their stiff little bodies before storing it in freezer bags. That’s not a big selling point to convince the boys to eat their broccoli. But in another month or so, the nights are cooler and frost is imminent, which means the cool season broccoli that grows fine until a hard freeze, can grow free and avoid pests.

Late Season Gardening

Last year I wrote the article, Second Acts, for Organic Gardening magazine where I interviewed gardeners throughout the country about late season gardening. A common reason for doing it was because it was so much easier not to have to battle the pests.

Normally, when you plant your garden in the spring, you share the timeframe with the garden pests’ lifecycles. They emerge from overwintering in the soil; adults lay eggs on plants; larvae chew the devil out your crops. By planting in the late summer, you miss the most destructive part of their lifecycle. There might be a few pests still out, but they’re more focused on preparing for winter and often aren’t as damaging. This seems to hold true in most parts of the country.

Besides keeping the cabbage moths (and resulting cabbage loopers) out of the brassicas, flea beetles are less of an issue in the fall, and squash vine borers are typically done for the season. Just picture what your worst pests are early in the season. Plant those crops now to avoid them.

Cool Down Soil with Straw

Late season planting is often called the lazy man’s gardening time. The soil is already warm and ready so seeds germinate faster, and transplants dont have the normal shock of plopping their little roots in cold dirt. By the time the first frost rolls around, the plants are typically already established and tolerate colder temperatures in the fall than in the spring. Plus, the warm soil radiate heats and keeps early frosts from doing much damage.

One of the few challenges in seeding this time of year is the soil is sometimes too hot for some of the cool season plants such as lettuce, radishes and other greens. One way to remedy the situation is to spread straw over the planting bed for a week before seeding. This helps keep it shaded and cool. Once you seed, be sure to keep the area well watered. And, if its going to be exceptionally hot, you might want to spread a thin layer of straw or pull a shade cloth over the bed to keep them from baking until the weather moderates.

I seeded another bed of carrots today. As long as I keep water on them, theyll be up in less than 2 weeks, then will grow throughout the fall. I know I wont have to worry about the carrot rust fly because theyre well beyond egg laying at this time. It’s the same with the lettuce and spinach I’ll see as soon as I clean out another bed. I still have time to plant radishes, chard, beets, peas, plus cabbage and broccoli plants while avoiding pests. And in warmer regions of the country, the fun is just beginning and there are many more options.

So, plant now to beat the bugs!