Fall weather and planting around the corner in Oklahoma

The cold front last week gives us hope that fall is coming. When we visit local greenhouse growers, we see thousands of hardy mums and pansies in production. In just a few weeks, those fall crops will be showing color, and it will be time for us to plant them in our yards for immediate fall color.

Besides watering, weeding and pest control, this is a great time to harvest fresh produce from your vegetable garden. The tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and other vegetables that survived the summer heat will get a burst of energy with the cooler weather and begin to yield larger harvests.

We are at the end of the planting season for fall vegetable gardens. You should put your cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli plants in the ground right away. Kale, kohlrabi, leeks, onions, green peas and leaf lettuce also should be planted right away for fall harvest. Most of these cool-season or semihardy vegetables will keep growing and producing harvests through several light frosts until we get a hard freeze. You can plant spinach, Swiss chard, turnips, rutabaga and radishes until mid-September.

In just a few weeks, we will be into prime fall planting season for trees and shrubs, so it's time to think about your yard and develop a long-term plan in your mind or on paper of where you would like to add shade trees. Fall is a good time to change out or add foundation plantings, shrub fences, windbreaks or natural screens. Start preparing to plant these trees and shrubs in a few weeks after the temperatures cool.