The fall garden that actually finishes

Count backward from first frost

A crop needs its days-to-maturity plus a little slack before the typical first frost. Lettuce wants ~40 days, spinach ~40, kale ~50, radish ~28, bush beans ~60. If you do not have the days, skip it. The matcher already hides what will not finish.

In zone 6 that makes August the fall-sowing month. In zone 8 you have September. In zone 9 and 10 the 'fall' garden is the main garden.

What belongs

Lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, radish, cilantro, beets, chard, maybe broccoli if you start it in trays in July. Not new tomatoes. Not peppers. Not a 100-day winter squash.

Pull the tired basil and the bolted cilantro to make room. Shade new seedbeds through a last heat wave. Water them like a germination tray for a week.

Then garlic

When the greens are in, order seed garlic. Plant it four to six weeks before first frost. That is how a vegetable year has an ending that is also a beginning.