Key Points
Raised beds are perfect for growing cool-season vegetables and annuals. Plant spring-blooming bulbs in your raised bed or start perennial seeds that require cold stratification. Use mulch and insulating covers to extend the growing season in your raised beds.
An empty space offers plenty of opportunity, and a raised bed is a perfect area you can put to good use during autumn and winter. For some fall and winter plants, you’ll need to add insulating covering, but there are other ways to use your raised beds after the summer harvest.
Start by cleaning up spent plants and weeds and working in some compost. Then consider these ideas for using your raised beds to best advantage year-round.
Choose from a long list of cold-hardy vegetables to keep the harvest going into late fall and even winter in warmer climates.
Root vegetables, including beets, turnips, radishes, and carrots, withstand light frosts. Kale, chard, mustard, and collards keep growing until the ground freezes. Mulch to protect roots and look for regrowth and a second crop when temperatures warm in early spring.
Add an insulating cover and grow cabbage, Bok choy, and winter-hardy lettuces like escarole and romaine. Your empty beds leave plenty of room for growing cole crops that need lots of space. Broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts are cool-weather vegetables that grow even better in the fall in many climates.
Consider dedicating a small amount of space for garlic and shallots, traditionally planted in autumn for late spring or early summer harvest.
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Plant Cool Season Herbs
Cilantro and parsley don’t survive summer heat, so fall and early spring planting are ideal for good harvests. Herbs like rosemary can be finicky and generally don’t thrive indoors.
Try burying potted rosemary, thyme, and mint, pot and all, in a raised bed to increase chances for winter survival. Add mulch to maintain moisture and warmth.
Autumn is the right time to plant spring-blooming bulbs, and raised beds meet the requirement for good-quality, well-draining soil.
Too much moisture overwinter can cause bulbs to rot, so amend the soil when necessary before planting. Daffodils, tulips, and crocus are just a few bulbs you can plant in the fall for early color and interest next spring.
Start a Seed Bed for Perennials
Plenty of perennial flowers benefit from fall planting, including those started from seed. Raised beds are ideal for sowing seed that requires cold stratification. Skip the refrigerator and direct sow them outdoors where winter cold naturally provides the right temperatures for germination in spring.
Encourage healthy root development by holding perennial seedlings, including fall divisions, in your raised bed for planting out in flowerbeds next spring. Mulch, along with an insulating cover, gives plants a head start on spring growth and reduces stress when you transplant into standard flowerbeds and gardens.
If you have several raised beds, consider dedicating one to perennials or adding them in among vegetables as companion plants.
Extend the bloom season and add color to your fall landscape by filling raised beds with cold-hardy annuals. Pansies, petunias, chrysanthemums, snapdragons, poppies, and violas are several of the many flowers you can grow for fall and winter interest.
Plant ornamental kale and cabbage as foundation plants for a seasonal display. Include pumpkins, scarecrows, cornstalks, and straw bales to set the stage for family fun and interest as part of your landscape.
Heel In Bare Root Tree and Shrub Seedlings
Planting during cooler weather is recommended for most trees and shrubs, but don’t worry if you aren’t able to get them in the ground in autumn.
A raised bed is ideal for heeling in woody plants to keep roots viable until transplanting in early spring.
Heeling in works well for berry bushes along with landscape trees and ornamentals.
Feed your soil and discourage early spring weeds by sowing a cover crop. Legumes like vetch, clover, and alfalfa germinate quickly and stand all winter in many growing zones. Work plants into the soil before spring planting to replenish essential nitrogen or leave them as a natural mulch and weed suppressant.
Plants with stout tap roots, like radishes and mustard, improve structure by aerating soil and encouraging beneficial microorganisms. Leaves are frost-hardy and edible. Carrots and daikon radish roots can be dug and eaten when the ground thaws in late winter/early spring.
Grasses like winter rye and wheat are often used in large garden plots, but they also work equally well to recycle nutrients and organic matter into your raised bed soil. Cut down close to soil level and dig them in about a month before the final frost in your growing zone.
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