I know. It’s hot. So why in the world am I talking about fall veggies? Well believe it or not, the time for planting is just around the corner -- say from mid-August to mid-September -- which means now is the time for planning.

If I had only one season in which to plant a vegetable garden, it would be fall. No doubt about it. And the reason is simple: vegetables harvested in the fall taste better. No doubt about that either. And just what will I be planting, you ask?

Well pretty much everything I plant every spring, with the exception of asparagus, and that’s a long list, one that I now present in alphabetical order. The asterisk indicates those that I stick in the ground as transplants. All others I direct sow in the garden from seed.

Planting veggies in the fall is a tad tricky, because everything on my list is a cool-season crop, yet it’s anything but cool this time of year. And it’s not just the air temperature that presents a problem – it’s the soil temp as well. So here’s what you need to do to ensure a successful fall planting.

Do all that, and you should have plenty of tasty veggies to enjoy for weeks on end. And don’t worry too much about frosts. Everything on my list is not only frost tolerant (down to about 28 degrees or so), but their flavor actually improves when they get nipped by frost (the plants produce more sugars in response to colder temperatures).

The majority of fall veggies grow great from seed, and with seed you have more choices. For instance, if lettuce is your thing, we stock at least a dozen or more different varieties. That’s a good thing, especially if you know someone who eats salad for lunch every day (that would be my wife!).

There’s loads of helpful information on seed packets -- planting depth, spacing recommendations, days to harvest, etc. -- which is why you should save them. I actually hold onto mine until the following year so I’ll remember what I planted and which varieties I liked best.

Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower are best grown from transplants. And all are pretty darn easy to grow. But be on the lookout for a small white butterfly and a grayish brown one hovering around your plants. Both lay their tiny eggs on the undersides of leaves which quickly hatch as small green caterpillars with voracious appetites. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), an all-natural bacterial spray or dust, provides excellent control.

Fertilize veggie transplants at planting time and again three weeks or so later. In addition to using my own sifted compost, I supplement everything with Espoma products such as Garden-tone, Plant-tone, and Chicken Manure.

It’s a good idea to add valuable organic matter to the soil before planting your fall garden, because it’s a good bet much of it was depleted during the summer growing season. There are plenty of bagged products available. Gently work them into the top three or four inches or soil, then level and smooth the soil surface prior to planting.

It’s easy and fun to grow all sorts of veggies in containers (especially with kids), and some seed varieties have been bred specifically for container planting. Just make sure you use a container that’s at least 12-inches in diameter and six-inches deep. And never use garden soil because it will harden like concrete. Instead, use a good potting mix.