By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

Despite the heat, it’s time to work on a fall garden.

Marion’s community garden is being — for the first time — planted for a fall harvest.

“I did a lot of research over the winter during COVID,” said Pam Byers, who coordinates the community garden.

People often think summer weather is too hot and dry for planting, but late July and early August are the ideal time to plant seeds for a fall garden, she said.

Some ideal fall garden plants are broccoli, cauliflower, and peas. Those plants dislike too much heat, so they do better going into the fall than they do going into the summer.

“I’ve never done it in the fall so I’m hoping it does well,” she said.

Spinach and radishes also work well for fall gardens. Byers planted spinach the last week of July.

“I did a second planting of tomatoes,” Byers said. “I got my tomatoes by pulling off the suckers and rooting them in water. Now I’ve got young tomatoes about a foot tall.”

The average frost date in this area is Oct. 10, and broccoli and spinach can take a little cool weather.

“Succession planting is kind of what I’ve been doing,” she said. “As soon as the crop is done, you plant the next crop.”

She said the second planting is usually different from the first plants on that plot.

For instance, when the first planting was broccoli, the second planting was melon.

She plants Romaine lettuce throughout the season, so lettuce will continue to appear among this year’s fall bounty.