18 fall garden vegetables

 
Often people think of gardening as a spring and summer activity, but in many regions – including mine – you can plant a fall garden and have a bountiful harvest through December through even some of the colder months.

Benefits of fall gardening

Fall gardening has a lot of benefits and chief among them is being able to have more of your own vegetables throughout a third season. Having our own produce to eat always makes me feel more secure and it makes me feel so accomplished. It’s nice having that feeling heading into the fall because the light is fading earlier and earlier, which always brings me down a bit. Being able to harvest some vegetables always improves my spirit

But aside from that, I love to garden in the fall because the temperatures are cooler.

I love a beautiful and full summer garden. But honestly, when it is 92 degrees with 80 percent humidity, the last thing I want to do is even be outside.

Lastly, when the temperatures cool off – especially when they get into the 40’s – there’s fewer pests to worry about. That is always a good thing from my perspective.

But what do you grow in a fall garden?

There are so many vegetables you can grow into the fall and even in the winter if you decide to use some hoop houses. Here are a few of my favorite vegetables to grow in a fall garden.

Cabbage

I love a good cabbage soup and it’s always best made when it’s from the cabbage in my own garden. The heat of the summer is often too much for cabbage and it’s better grown in early spring (which is a difficult time to prep the ground here in Zone 5b) or during the fall months.

Cabbages take about 70 days before they are ready for harvesting so if you plant them in late August or early September, you’ll have a harvest in early to mid-November.

Just make sure to plant the cabbage at least 4-6 weeks before the first frost comes so the plant can be fully established.

Kale

Kale is probably my favorite fall and winter vegetable, and it grows so well here! In my first garden, the kale grew all the way through February before it died back. Even then, it came back the following spring. It’s such a resilient little crop and growing it when it’s cooler outside can help with pests.And it’s so delicious in fall and winter pasta recipes like this Sausage & Kale Pasta.

Kale seeds can germinate in cool or warm weather, which makes it perfect for a fall garden. And the cooler the weather is, the faster and greener the kale will grow. The leaves will have a better texture in the cooler months and even taste a little sweeter.

Beets

Beets are one of those vegetables that I can enjoy so many ways! I love them roasted with some goat cheese or in a fall salad like this Beet and Apple Harvest Salad and I even enjoy them as soup! They prefer to be shaded by other plants and I’ve had success growing them under other crops before. Once the taller crops are removed, beets will take over and do really well.

You can pre-soak the seeds for germination or not. I’ve not done this with them because I’ve always grown them with seed tape. They take about 7-8 weeks to grow from seed and are one of the lowest maintenance vegetables to grow.

Carrots

Admittedly, I haven’t had a lot of luck with carrots here. I planted them back in our suburban garden all the time, but it’s been a challenge to get them to germinate here.

Carrot seeds like a lot of water to begin to grow so you want to make sure to plant them well before the first frost (about 10 weeks). They will take about 7 days to begin to germinate. They take about 70 to 80 days to reach maturity.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower can be another tricky one to grow, but I’ve been successful with it. It thrives in cooler temperatures and you want to plant the seeds 6-8 weeks before the first frost.

It likes high quality soil that’s high in nutrients and prefers consistency. Consistency in temperature can be difficult to achieve any time of the year, but once fall really sets in the temperature should be consistent enough to make cauliflower happy.

Cauliflower can take anywhere from 50-100 days to mature depending on the variety. You want to harvest them when the heads are compact, white and firm.

Radishes

Radishes make a wonderful addition to the fall garden and are fairly easy to grow. I grew them from seed in my summer garden with the use of my DIY Seed Tape.

They can grow very quickly and I had radishes I was able to pull in about three weeks time. Typically they take anywhere from 25-50 days to harvest. You don’t need to feed them or give them any fertilizer and they will happily grow right along in well-drained soil.

Spinach

I always grow spinach here in early spring, but like kale it can do very well in a fall garden. Also similar to kale, the cooler weather will make spinach greener faster and a little sweeter too.

Spinach needs fertile soil to grow well so make sure to use a high quality soil or compost when growing.

Spinach only takes about 45 days to mature. And, also like it’s friend Kale, it’s the perfect cut and come again crop. You can cut some away and it will keep growing along.

Peas

Peas are a fall garden crop that I really get excited about. My daughter loves to eat them straight off the vine and any vegetable that can encourage her to do that is a winner in my book.

The varieties that will do the best in the fall include snow peas and sugar snap peas. For all of my tips for growing peas, click {HERE}.

Broccoli

Broccoli is my favorite vegetable hands down and has been all my life. We’ve grown it successfully here two years in a row and I’ve made it a point to add it to the fall garden this year.

Plant Broccoli about 10 weeks before the first frost and keep the soil around it cool with mulch. It takes about 70 days for broccoli to mature so work backwards when thinking about the best date for planting it in your zone.

Brussel Sprouts

I’ve not yet grown Brussel sprouts here so I thought this year’s fall garden would be the perfect place to start. They love cool weather and are often grown as a spring crop. However, here in Zone 5b, it can be difficult for me to even prep the garden soil before April due to the weather. Getting a bed ready at the end of summer is a much easier process for me.

Brussel sprouts can take some frost so they might actually hold up a little better for you than most fall garden crops. However, you need to start the seeds inside when the weather is hot and transplant them when the weather really starts to cool. They are ready for harvesting when the sprouts themselves are firm and green.

Lettuce varieties

Lettuce loves cool weather. The summer is just much too hot with too much sun for it to thrive. It’s better when planted as a spring crop or a crop in the fall garden. You can even plant lettuce seeds in containers and use it as functional décor too.

Leaf varieties like loose-leaf and butter head leaves can reach maturity in 30 days, and can even really be harvested when they start to sprout and develop. Most varieties take 45-55 days to reach maturity and Romain lettuce takes 75-85 days. Crisphead lettuce will take the longest at 75-100 days.

Arugula

Arugula is not a lettuce, even though it’s so often found in the lettuce section of the nursery. It is part of the Brassica family and is related to mustard. It’s also an excellent choice of a vegetable for the fall garden!

I eat arugula multiple times a week and really love it’s peppery and nutty taste. I always look forward to growing it in the garden and it’s one of the first things we harvest in the spring. The problem is, heat and too much sunshine will make it bolt – faster than anything else you grow.

This makes it the perfect plant for the fall garden. The cool temperatures and usually grayer days really allow for arugula to thrive. You could even see a crop as soon as 30 days!

Beans

Most people think of beans as a summer crop, but there are certain varieties that will tolerate the cool weather too. Try Great Northern Beans or Kidney Beans as a fall crop versus the summer pole beans.

Unlike their green cousins, these beans are ready when the pods are brown and dried. Theses are beans you would store for chili or soup versus green beans you might find as a side dish.

Swiss Chard

Like the other leafy greens mentioned above, swiss chard is a great option for the fall garden. It thrives in the cooler temperatures creating faster greening and sweeter leaf.

I’ve not grown this here yet, mainly because we love kale and spinach so much. However, if you have a love of Swiss Chard plant that alongside your other fall garden greens. Just plant them earlier. They prefer to be frost free.

Swiss chard seeds take about 7 -14 days to sprout and the plant is mature in about 50 -60 days.

Collard Greens

While collard greens are a popular vegetable to grow in the South, they can really be grown anywhere. Like all those other leafy greens they like the cooler weather so they make an excellent crop for the fall garden. It takes 60 -75 days to see the first crop of collard greens.

Bok Choy

This delicious vegetable is something that not everyone has heard of and is often used in Asian dishes. I loves the cooler weather and is something everyone should try in a fall garden. In fact, like arugula, Bok Choy will go to seed very quickly if the weather turns hot. One of the best parts about growing Bok Choy is that it only takes 45 day to grow from a seed. So you can start a fall garden very late and still enjoy Bok Choy.

Turnips

Turnips aren’t a vegetable we eat often. Okay, ever really. I’ve probably had them a few times in my entire life, but roast turnips are actually really delicious. You want to direct sow them in late summer or early fall to include them in your fall garden.

Like carrots they are a root vegetable and they are best when they are smaller and more tender. You can harvest them when they start to emerge from the soil.

Bunching Onion/Green Onions

Green onions can be sewn in the summer or fall and grown in some places throughout the early winter. It makes them the perfect addition to the fall garden. Growing them in the fall garden gives you a place to find some flavor and color to top of your fall soups and stews.

They will germinate from seed in about 7-14 days and are ready to harvest when the stalks are about 12 inches tall.

Thank you so much for joining me today, friends! I hope that this post inspires you to plant a fall garden and that you see a lot of success with it! Find more gardening tips and tricks {HERE}.