What to Plant in a Fall Garden 

A simple guide to growing fresh vegetables long after summer starts winding down

When most people think about vegetable gardening, they picture spring planting, summer tomatoes, and baskets overflowing with zucchini.

But some of my favorite gardening happens when summer begins to fade.

Here in Zone 7b, fall gives us another wonderful opportunity to grow food. Cooler temperatures are perfect for leafy greens, root vegetables, broccoli, cabbage, peas, and many of the crops that struggle through our summer heat.

And there is something especially satisfying about walking into the garden on a cool fall morning and gathering vegetables for dinner. If you've never planted a fall garden before, don't let the timing intimidate you. Start with a few vegetables you love to eat and build from there.

Here's what I recommend planting.

🥬 Lettuce

Lettuce loves the cooler temperatures of fall.

You can grow leaf lettuce, romaine, butterhead, or a mixture of several varieties. I especially like succession planting lettuce rather than planting everything at once. Sow a small amount every week or two and you'll have fresh lettuce coming from the garden over a much longer period.

Growing tip: Lettuce seeds don't need to be planted deeply. Keep the soil consistently moist while they're germinating, especially if you're starting your fall garden while the weather is still warm.

🌱 Lettuce Seeds & Starts 

🌿 Spinach

If I could convince every gardener to plant one thing for fall, spinach would be high on my list. Spinach thrives in cool weather and becomes wonderfully sweet as temperatures drop.

Plant seeds about ½ inch deep in loose, fertile soil. Once the seedlings begin growing, thin them so each plant has enough room to develop. Harvest the outside leaves and allow the center of the plant to continue growing.

🌱 Spinach Seeds & Starts 

🌱 Kale

Kale is one of the workhorses of a fall garden. It tolerates cold weather beautifully, and the flavor can actually improve after a light frost.

Give your kale plenty of sunshine, good soil, and enough space for air to circulate around the plants. You don't have to harvest the entire plant at once. Pick the lower outside leaves and let the plant continue producing from the center.

🌱 Kale Seeds & Starts 

🥕 Carrots

Pulling carrots from cool fall soil feels a little like digging for treasure. Carrots grow best in loose soil without rocks or large clumps. Because the roots need to grow straight down, take a few minutes to prepare the bed before planting.

Direct sow carrot seeds about ¼ inch deep and keep the surface moist while they germinate. Once the seedlings appear, thinning is important. Crowded carrots usually mean small carrots.

🌱 Shop Carrot Seeds 

Garden tip: A good raised-bed or vegetable planting mix makes growing root vegetables much easier. Growing Root veggies in beds and bags are the easiest!

🪴 Raised Beds

🪴Grow Bags

🫜 Radishes

Want a quick win in your fall garden? Plant radishes. Many varieties are ready to harvest in only a few weeks, which makes them perfect for new gardeners and for filling small spaces between slower-growing vegetables. 

Direct sow the seeds and keep the soil evenly moist. Don't leave mature radishes in the ground too long. Harvest them while they're young and crisp.

🌱 Shop Radish Seeds

🥦 Broccoli

Broccoli is a wonderful fall crop, but timing matters. Because broccoli takes longer to mature than lettuce or radishes, I like to get it started early.

You can start broccoli indoors in seed-starting trays and transplant the seedlings into the garden once they're established.

Give plants plenty of space, fertile soil, and consistent moisture. After harvesting the main broccoli head, don't immediately pull up the plant. Many varieties will continue producing smaller side shoots.

🌱 Shop Broccoli Seeds 

🌱 Shop Seedlings

🥬 Cabbage

Fall cabbage is worth the wait. Like broccoli, cabbage appreciates rich soil and consistent moisture. Space plants generously so those beautiful heads have room to develop.

Cabbage is also a heavy feeder, so preparing the soil before planting makes a big difference. I like adding compost and then feeding plants as they grow.

🌿 Shop Cabbage Seeds 

🌱Shop Seedlings

🫛 Peas

Peas are another crop that appreciates cooler weather. They don't love the hottest part of summer, so fall gives us another opportunity to grow them.

Plant peas directly in the garden and give climbing varieties something to grab onto as they grow. A trellis doesn't have to be complicated. It just needs to be sturdy enough to support the vines.

🌱 Shop Pea Seeds 

🥬 Swiss Chard

Swiss chard deserves more attention in the fall garden. It's beautiful, productive, and surprisingly resilient.

Give plants rich soil and regular moisture. Like kale, you can harvest the outside leaves while allowing the center to continue growing. And if you grow one of the colorful varieties, it might be one of the prettiest vegetables in your garden.

🌱 Shop Swiss Chard Seeds 

🌱 Shop Seedlings

From the Garden to the Table

For me, gardening has never been only about growing vegetables. It's about what happens next.

It's taking a handful of spinach into the kitchen for dinner. It's roasting carrots you pulled from the soil that afternoon. It's making a big pot of soup with kale and vegetables from the garden.

That's why I love the idea of garden-to-table cooking so much.

You don't need acres of land to do it. You don't need a perfect garden. And you certainly don't have to grow everything.

Start with one raised bed, a few grow bags, or one little corner of your backyard.

Plant something. Watch it grow. Then take it into your kitchen and make something delicious.

That's where the magic happens.