Here’s What to Plant Right Now for Fall Harvests
These vegetables and herbs are perfect for your fall garden.
Your summer garden may be looking a little rough right now. After intense heat, drought, and pest pressure, your plants are likely showing signs of stress. Some spring-planted crops also may be nearly done, so they’re just taking up valuable space without much benefit. That means it’s time to pull those sad-looking plants out and start over with vegetables that will be ready for fall harvests.
Mid to late summer is the ideal time for planting your fall vegetable garden. In the more northern climates, you can direct seed many fast-growing crops such as greens. In the heat of the Mid and Lower South, you can still sow heat lovers such as beans and squash.
If you can’t find transplants at local nurseries, you can still purchase them from online vendors. You also have time to start many crops from seed. Read the seed package to find the days to maturity. Then identify your area’s first expected frost date, and count backward. For example, if a crop takes 60 days to mature and your area’s first expected frost date is November 1, you need to plant by September 1 to ensure harvest before freezing temperatures arrive.
Ready to get started? Learn what to plant right now for a bountiful fall garden.
Tomatoes
In the Mid and Lower South, there’s plenty of time to plant a second crop of tomatoes. Tomatoes don’t prefer blazing hot temperatures, so they may produce better for you with cooler days ahead. Buy transplants or snip off a healthy fruit, plop it into the ground, and keep it moist. It will take off and produce tomatoes much faster than you’d expect.
Squash
There’s also time for a second crop of squash if you live in a warm climate. Summer squash is fast-growing, so pull up any gangly plants that have stopped producing and plant a few seeds of yellow squash or zucchini. Depending on your area’s frost date, you may also have time to grow some types of winter squash.
Beans
If you live in the South, your spring planting is likely winding down now, but you can plant a second crop and enjoy beans well into fall. Remember, the more you pick, the more they produce!
Cucumbers
For warm climates, go ahead and plant new cucumber seeds. Some varieties mature in as little as 50 days.
Arugula
This is a crop that’s ideal to plant now in cold climates. Pull out any old plantings that have bolted, or gone to seed, and reseed new arugula. Arugula can be ready in as little as 25 days. In hot climates, wait until September or later to plant.
Kale
Kale is super winter-hardy, so you can plant now in most of the country and enjoy it well into late fall and early winter. Amazingly, it even will survive a frost. In hot climates, give it some shade cloth to protect it from extreme heat as the baby plants are taking hold. It may look like it’s doing nothing now, but it will take off once cooler temperatures arrive.
Radish
Radishes are ridiculously fast and easy to grow, maturing in 25 to 30 days, depending on the variety. You can plant in northern climates now, but wait to plant until early to mid-fall for southern areas.
Lettuce
Lettuce is easy to grow and doesn’t take a ton of space. You can even grow it in a window box or under taller plants, which can offer protective shade for baby plants if it’s still toasty where you live. Wait until it gets a bit cooler to plant in southern locations, but plant now in cooler regions. Lettuce is ready in as little as a month for baby greens.
Perennial Herbs
Herbs are one of the easiest things to grow, so if you didn’t start an herb garden yet this year, there’s still time. Opt for perennials such as thyme, oregano, and sage. In warmer climates, rosemary also is perennial, or overwinter it indoors in pots if you live in a cold climate.
Arricca Elin SanSone is a writer, editor, and content creator who specializes in lifestyle and gardening. With a background in health reporting, she applies these same research skills when writing about the science of growing things. She trials new plants in her expansive garden, and her houseplant collection consists of 60+ varieties. Arricca has written thousands of articles for publications such as Country Living, House Beautiful, Good Housekeeping, Prevention, VERANDA, Southern Living, and more. She’s happiest when digging in the dirt, baking, or spending time with the people and dogs she loves.
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