To ensure a successful fall and winter harvest, you need to start many of your late-season crops in the peak of summer. In most regions, this means planting in the heat of August to give your crops time to size up while growing conditions are still good.
According to Foxx, kale, collard greens, and lettuce can all thrive during winter. "They are pretty similar in terms of how to grow them, too," she says. If you've never grown greens before, Foxx recommends starting with kale or collard greens.
Planting in September
Plant now beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery, fava beans, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, both head and leaf lettuce, mustard greens, onions, parsley, peas, potatoes, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, Swiss chard, and turnips.
You can directly sow seed in your garden once your first round of zucchini plants have matured and expect to see germination within days. Many gardeners do this second planting in mid-July or mid-August (or both). Plantings later in the season typically grow even faster than a spring planting.
Plant your fall vegetables so that the crops you choose have time to reach maturity before the first frost in your area. Find your first frost date, then count backward based on days to maturity for each type of veggie you want to grow. That's your ideal planting date.
You can expect success planting potatoes in the fall as long as your soil gets cold and stays cold in winter, with temperatures 8 inches (20 cm) below the surface staying below 48°F (9°C). Buried potato tubers start growing as soil temperatures rise above 50°F (10°C). Your garden gets a vote, too.
Fall is a good time for developing tomatoes because the cooler temperatures allow for better fruit set and insect problems diminish. Mid-July to the end of August is the ideal time to plant. When choosing your fall tomatoes, make sure you know if you're selecting a Determinate or Indeterminate type.
These cold-weather champs are kale, spinach and collards. Other hardy vegetables include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, English peas, kohlrabi and leeks. Hardy root crops are radishes and turnip, which also yields some greens from the tops. Other hardy greens include kale, mustard greens and collards.
Onions should be planted twice a year – once in the fall and once in the spring. The fall-planted onions can be harvested throughout the summer and early fall. The spring-planted onions can be harvested throughout the fall and early winter.
Vegetables that can be planted in August include leafy greens such as lettuce, spinach, collards, kale and mustard. Radishes, turnips, beets and carrots can all be started from seeds in August.
Plant Flowers and Vegetables
If you live in a frost-free region, October is a great time to plant cool-weather flowers and vegetables in your garden. Crops such as kale, cabbage, collards, lettuce, carrots, mustard, onions, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, beets, and garlic can all be planted in early to late October.
Planting a Late-Season Garden
There are many crops you can plant well into summer (as late as mid-late August) and still harvest a sizable amount of food.
Cool Season Plants for September
Arugula and other small greens, plus root crops like 45-day radishes, are great to sow from seed now and harvest before frost comes. Some leafy greens like spinach are frost tolerant. My hardy kale will stay in the garden, weather permitting, into the spring and beyond.
Zone 8 can enjoy fall tomatoes by planting seeds in early August or transplants in late August/early September. Zones 9, 10, & 11 can enjoy fall tomatoes by planting either seeds or transplants throughout September. If you're unsure of your growing zone, you can find it here.
The latest time to plant for most vegetables would be the second week in June with a short harvest time. If planting crops that mature within 50 days, you could plant those as late as the last week in June, but keep in mind the weather will be turning cooler, especially at night. Cool crops are best for late plantings.
Vegetables from the allium family, such as leeks, are some of the most cold hardy vegetables out there. Planting leeks in the fall is ideal, and they will survive even hard freezes. But leeks are also an all around vegetable that don't mind a longer day length and will continue growing into the summer months.
According to Myers, the hardiest vegetables that can withstand heavy frost of air temperatures below 28 include spinach, Walla Walla sweet onion, garlic, leeks, rhubarb, rutabaga, broccoli, kohlrabi, kale, cabbage, chicory, Brussels sprouts, corn salad, arugula, fava beans, radish, mustard, Austrian winter pea and ...