What to Plant in Fall: A Beginner's Guide to Cool-Weather Crops

If you think the gardening year ends when summer does, you're not alone. Most of us learned to plant in spring and stop there. But fall is a planting season too, and for a lot of crops it's the better one.

Here's how to work out your timing, what grows well in cool weather, and what you need to get started. We're home gardeners too, so we'll keep it simple.

Why fall works

Cool-weather crops grow best when daytime temperatures sit between about 45 and 70°F. In summer heat they slow down, and greens like lettuce and spinach bolt, which means they turn bitter and go to seed. As the air cools off, they hit their stride. Some even get sweeter: cool nights sweeten carrots and beets, and a touch of frost sweetens turnips.

When to plant in fall

Skip the calendar. Look up your average first fall frost date, then count back 6 to 8 weeks. That's your sowing window.

If that window is still open where you live, you're in time. If it's already passed, don't worry. The same seeds go in as soon as the ground can be worked in spring.

What to plant in fall

These crops grow well in cool weather, listed from fastest to slowest. Days to harvest are counted from planting.

Quick wins

• Radishes (Champion, Cherry Belle): about 20 to 30 days. The fastest thing you can put in the ground.
• Arugula (Rocket): about 35 to 45 days. It's peppery, and it grows back after you cut it.
• Spinach (Viroflay): about 40 to 50 days. It germinates happily in cool soil.

Salad greens and roots

• Lettuce (Black Seeded Simpson): about 55 to 65 days. Once the outer leaves are big enough to eat, pick those and let the center keep growing.
• Turnips (Purple Top): about 50 to 60 days, and the greens are edible too.
• Beets (Detroit Dark Red): about 60 to 80 days. Each beet "seed" can sprout more than one plant, so thin to one.
• Carrots (Scarlet Nantes): about 65 to 75 days. Sow them where they'll grow, because carrots don't like being transplanted.

Worth the wait

• Peas (Sugar Snap): about 60 to 70 days. They handle a light frost. Give them a trellis 3 to 4 feet tall.
• Broccoli (Waltham 29): about 75 to 90 days. Start it indoors and transplant it out, 18 to 24 inches apart. Cut the main head, and side shoots follow.

Every crop on this list comes in our Cool Weather Seed Bundle, so you don't have to hunt them down one by one.

Treat these as typical ranges. Cool-weather crops handle cold far better than summer crops, but how far yours get before a hard frost depends on where you live. The growing guide for each crop has the details.

What to save for spring

Beans, tomatoes, peppers and other warm-season crops want warm soil. Sow them after your last spring frost.

What you need to start

You don't need a greenhouse or grow lights.

• Sun. At least 4 to 6 hours a day.
• Soil that drains. A garden bed, a raised bed, or a container with drainage holes all work. Mix 1 to 2 inches of compost into a bed before planting. In a container, use potting mix instead of garden soil.
• Steady water. Cool weather slows evaporation, so check the soil every 2 to 3 days and water when the top inch feels dry. If the soil feels sticky or water is pooling, it's too wet.
• Room to grow. Once seedlings are up, thin them so each plant has space. Your packet tells you how far apart.

The easiest way to start: one bundle

If you're not sure where to begin, start with a bundle. Our Cool Weather Seed Bundle is 20 non-GMO seed packets: every crop above, plus cabbage, cauliflower, bunching onions and celery. Every packet has a QR code to its own growing guide.

Start with one row

The hardest part is usually starting. You don't have to plant everything at once. Pick one quick crop, like radishes, and one you're excited to eat. Check your frost date, get the seeds in, and learn as you go.

Growing salad greens first? Our guide to growing lettuce in fall covers timing, soil and watering in more detail. Ready to plant? Shop the Cool Weather Seed Bundle.

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