Fall edible garden

Fall savoy cabbage 

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Fall is a great time to garden!  You don't have to worry about pests and there is typically good rainfall so you don't have to worry about watering.  The crops that thrive in spring, thrive in fall.

For fall gardening, you actually start some varieties as early as July.  These will be the same type of veggies you planted for your spring garden.  You may have to start some varieties indoors as some seeds will not germinate in the hot temps of summer.  You can extend the fall harvest by covering your veggies with crop fabric when chilly temps arrive in late October so you can harvest all winter.

Don't worry if you are just getting started now; there are plenty of cool season crops you can start from seed in September and many you can order on line, pick up at your local nursery or big box store if you are getting a late start or just want to grab plants and plant.

Crops fall into 2 categories-cold season and warm season crops.  Warm season crops are those that abhor frost or getting their feet chilly.  Most of the warm season crops are killed by frost and won't grow unless the soil is nice and warm.  Cold crops are those that prefer when temperatures are cool or downright cold.

A rule of thumb is that if you eat the tuber, leaf or flower, it is typically a cold season crop.  If you eat the fruit or seed, it is a warm season crop. 

Choose the Right Varieties

In addition to choosing the right plants for cold-weather harvests, you can also increase fall harvests by planting specific varieties bred for colder climes. Look for varieties marketed as: fast-maturing; short and compact; textured (such as curly kale and Savoy spinach), winter-hardy, frost tolerant, overwintering, for every season, year-round, remarkably cold hardy, etc. 

Because daylight hours are getting shorter in the fall, you will need to add about 2 weeks to the “Days to Harvest” your seed packet gives as the seed packet dates are based on spring planting.  Plants grow slower in fall because the days are getting shorter instead of longer.

Just like in spring, seeds have to be kept moist to sprout.  You can also plant the seeds in peat pots, you can reuse the plastic annual trays you got in the spring or even use plastic salad containers to get your seedlings going.  You can put the plastic trays in a water catch pan, find a shady spot convenient to watering, fill with seed starting mix, sow your seeds and keep moist.  When the seedlings get their true leaves on them (second set), they are ready to transplant into the garden or a larger pot.

Outdoor seed starting tips

There are some veggies that the temps can be too high to germinate in our Zone 7, like lettuce.  These you will have to start inside or on the cool side of the house in the shade or indoors if you're having a really hot September.  

Indoor seed starting tips

Ideal soil temperatures for seed starting

Good choices for fall planting:

Root crops-Beets, Burdock, Carrots, Celeriac, Garlic, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Onions, Parsnips. Radishes, Root Parsley, Rutabaga, Salsify, Scorzonera, Turnips

Greens-Arugula, Celery, Chard, Dandelion greens, Fennel, Lettuce, Mustard, Collards, Chicory, Kale, Sorrel, Spinach, Peas, Fava beans  Growing fabulous lettuce and greens

Brassicas-Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Chinese Cabbage,   Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips 

Herbs-Marjoram, Parsley, Savory, Thyme, Sage, Cilantro, Oregano  Start a kitchen herb garden!

Below are some general sowing and planting times for cool season crops for our Zone 6/7 garden:

July

Beets, carrots, Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi), cilantro, collard greens, endive, escarole, frisee, fennel, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, scallions, and Swiss chard.  Use transplants for broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage.

August

The rest of the greens (arugula, corn salad, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive), kohlrabi, onions, snap peas, scallions, cabbage plants, radishes, and turnips.  Peas and Fava beans can be sown in August for spring harvests in Zone 6 or higher.  Use transplants for broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage.

September

Sow more greens, carrots, and radishes.  September is also a great month for starting perennial veggies, fruits, and herbs as well as flowers, trees and shrubs. Beginning of September for transplants for broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage.

Fruit for small spaces

 Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

October

The month to plant garlic for next year’s harvest and over-wintering onions.  Order your favorites early as many sell out quick.

October is prime time to plant garlic

If you don’t want to start seeds, some big box stores and local nurseries have begun to have fall planting veggies.   If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.  Late August, early September is the best time to get transplants into the garden for fall and winter harvests.

The September 2025 Edible Garden Planner

Harvest from September garden

Saturday, August 30, 2025

End of summer is a great time to tidy garden beds, harvest herbs, plant for fall and winter harvests, and add new perennials.  As the days get shorter, growth slows and before long the sun cannot support all the greenery from summer.  Plants, trees and bushes will drop leaves, but peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, greens, herbs, okra, pole beans, squash and cucumbers will keep producing through frost.  Keep the fruits picked to keep them producing.  Beginning of September is an ideal time to sow seeds of cool weather greens for fall and early winter harvests.  

Harvesting Herbs

This is the perfect time to harvest your herbs.  You can cut them back so they remain lush, improving the tidiness of your garden, and providing herbs for the winter ahead.  Cutting them back will help the plants build stronger root systems.  Trimming also encourages new growth.  You just don't want to prune perennial herbs too close to frost as new growth makes the plant less hardy. 

Harvesting and drying herbs

I dry my herbs to preserve them.  I cut the plant back by about two thirds and put the stems loosely in a paper bag in a dry, warm area out of the sun and let dry naturally.  Loose is the key here so they get good air circulation and do not mold.  They should be completely dry in about 3-4 weeks.  I like putting them in clothes closets to dry as they release such great fragrance, repels moths and the darkness helps keep the flavor in the herb. 

Once dried, remove the leaves from woody herbs and store in an airtight container out of direct sunlight.  With a soft herb like chives, you can just crumble into the airtight container.  I use wide mouth canning jars for herb storage or freezer bags kept in a dark location.  

For more ideas on herbs, Make your own "Herbes de Provence", Use herbs for signature desserts and grown up beverages, Quick tip on fresh flavor herb preservation and herbal butters, Homemade salad dressing recipes with garden herbs, and Make your own teas from garden grown herbs

Basil is one that loses most of its flavor when dried.  You can cut back basil a few times each growing season for harvesting and preserving.  My favorite way to preserve basil is to make pesto and freeze it.  It tastes just like freshly made pesto.  Be sure to remove all leaves or bring plants indoors when they are calling for frost.  Basil is very frost intolerant and its leaves will turn black when touched with frost.

Time to harvest basil 

 If the winter is not colder than usual in our zone, most perennial herbs like chives, oregano, sage, savory and thyme can be harvested year round straight from the garden.  If it is a harsh winter, the tops of these perennials will die to the ground, but re-sprout in the spring.

Winter squash from the September garden

Fall planting guide for cool season crops

September is prime time to plant more greens, beets, cole crops, carrots and radishes. 

What to plant in the September edible garden 

What I planted this week for fall eating

Get your fall and winter garden growing!

October is the month to plant garlic for next year's harvest.  Buy your garlic now if you haven't already because the most popular varieties sell out early!  I replant the biggest cloves from this year's harvest.  I use both regular garlic and elephant garlic in the garden.  I like elephant garlic because it produces huge cloves.  Hardneck garlic has larger cloves than soft neck and is easier to peel.  The advantage of soft neck garlic is that it stores longer and is hardier in colder climates.  I gave up on doing winter storage of whole cloves and went to pickling the extras.  Pickled garlic lasts for years in the frig.  

 Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......  

Quick tip-”peeling” garlic

Have garlic any time you need it, just pickle some!

You can pick up transplants like broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, kale, as well as herbs at some nurseries since gardening has become so popular.  You can also buy them on line or grow from seed.  Everything that loves spring also thrive in fall into early winter and some all the way to spring.  

Broccoli and cauliflower growing tips

Everything you need to know about growing lettuce

Collards and kale in your garden

Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Lettuce is my favorite for fall.  Plant a variety daily the first two weeks of September so that they are mature by the end of October.  Pick varieties that are cold tolerant with descriptions like "winter hardy", "cold tolerant", etc.  Time to plant lettuce seed for fall, winter salads

For more on fall planting,  Time to set out transplants for fall, winter, & spring harvests

Caring for your new seeds and transplants

Like in the spring, newly sown seeds need moisture to sprout.  Keep seeds and transplants moist until they get their first real set of leaves and are well established.  Then water as needed.  Outdoor seed starting tips

Many crops you can harvest into December and beyond, depending on how cold fall is.  Some get sweeter with some frost, like carrots, chard, and lettuce.  With cover, you can harvest all the way through winter!  
Extend the season with protection for plants

Transplants for winter and overwintering

What’s growing in the late February garden

Homegrown, organic salads in a Midwest winter

You can garden year round in small space

Prepare for hard freeze

Caring for the Summer Vegetables

Many of the summer veggies will continue producing until the first killing frost.  I continue to fertilize the beginning of September and October to keep the plants healthy while they are producing.  We are getting less and less daylight now so it is expected that the plants will drop lower leaves and have slower growth. Cucumbers, summer squash, peppers, eggplants, okra, snap beans and tomatoes all keep producing in our garden well into November.  

Greens in the garden are getting a second life as the temperatures cool and consistent moisture returns.  I got my greens sowed a couple of weeks ago and most of them are up now.  We had a real heat wave before that.  Lettuce seed will not sprout if soil temperatures are above 75F.  I sowed lettuce, spinach, greens and snow peas when it got back down into the 80's for highs.  I'll transplant the seedlings into pots that I keep under the portable greenhouse for the winter to keep salads all winter long when the temps start staying in the low 80's or cooler so they don't bolt. 

A quick reminder, save the seeds from your best performers to plant next year!  You can replant seeds from any heirlooms or open pollinated plants and they will be like their parent; hybrids likely will not.  Not only does it save you money, but it also gives you the plants that do the best under your garden and zone conditions.  Be sure to save seed only from disease free plants.  Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver  

What's happening in the late edible August garden

Garden in the morning

Sunday, August 24, 2025

August usually sees the full repertoire of the summer garden harvests.  This August has been hard on even the summer vegetables due to the extreme and prolonged heat July through last week.  Usually there is late sweet corn (plant corn in succession and different varieties to lengthen the harvest), summer squashes (like zucchini), peppers of all types (sweet to hot, hot), tomatoes, Mediterranean herbs, cucumbers, okra, apples, peaches, pears, grapes, beans, melons, figs, eggplant, honey, artichokes, raspberries, onion, winter squash and fennel are all in season in the Midwest.  

This year for warm season veggies, the heat put the brakes on tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and beans.  Tomato pollen is sterile when temperatures average about 85F.  The flowers will form but will fall off because they can't be germinated.  Only our small tomatoes have continued to produce.  The larger tomatoes have very few babies on them and those that do form do not get to normal size.  Our temperatures have started to drop with highs in the mid 80's and lows in the mid 60's so they so be able to produce again.

My beans, winged and yard long, have just started to produce in the last week.  My lima bean vines are still less than 12" long and not flowering.  I think this is mainly because I put them in a new bed.  I'll have to add compost this fall so it will be more fertile for next year.

My Trombetta squash vine hasn't produced any squashes but has started to flower so I should be getting squashes soon.

My cucumber vines both stopped producing.  Only one is flowering but no fruits so far in the last couple of weeks.

My eggplant and pepper plants are doing just fine.  The heat didn't seem to bother them.

I went and fertilized all my veggies with liquid fish fertilizer now that it has cooled down some to give them a boost.  Summer veggies do love September weather so I should see a good increase in production in the next couple of weeks if the temperatures stay normal.

I am harvesting small tomatoes, snap beans, peppers, greens, sprouting broccoli, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, Egyptian walking onions, eggplant, goji berry, basil, melons, husk cherries, and herbs.  

You can start a second round of summer veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers and summer squash at the end of June to have more vigorous plants going into fall.  I started 3 extra tomato slicer plants a week or so ago.  They have sprouted but it will be a while before they are big enough to produce. This year I lost a couple of Cherokee purple plants last month but the rest (15) kept producing.

I have gotten all the cucumbers I need for pickles so I don't really need more.  Since the Trombetta has just started flowering, it should do well all the way through fall.

If you are not growing summer veggies in your own garden, your local farmers market is a great place to pick up these seasonal veggies to either eat or preserve.  The best buy on any fruit or vegetable is when it is in season.  You can get even better deals on any produce that has a few blemishes which have no effect on the flavor.  If you are going to can, freeze or dry them, just be sure to remove any blemishes first.

 Veggies that are easy to preserve the extras for winter eating

We grow many edibles in pots because our edibles are integrated into the flower beds.  In pots, we have had great luck with Egyptian walking onions (which can be harvested year round), peppers, eggplant, bush zucchini, bush cucumber, dwarf tomatoes, greens, fig tree, columnar apple trees, dwarf moringa tree, kumquat tree, sweet bay, mint, goji berry, raspberry, lettuce and celery. 

Spaghetti squash sitting on hummingbird vine

I have tried sweet and hot peppers in pots and the garden.  Overall, they seem to do the best in pots.  I am growing a couple hot peppers-a pequin type Chiltepin and Anaheim.  I use the tiny peppers in my season salt I make and Anaheim for chili powder.  I have several varieties of sweet peppers-Habanada, Tricked You jalapeño, yellow, red and green bell peppers and a dark red snacking sweet pepper.  The bell peppers are in the ground and doing well.  The rest are in pots.

Preserving peppers

Peppers are for every taste and garden

Weekly watering for plants in the ground is sufficient with monthly fertilizing.  A pot with a water reservoir in the bottom is the best solution for lengthening the time between waterings when growing in pots.  Otherwise, plan on watering your pots every 2-3 days and fertilize every other week.  Summer garden tips

I grow all of our herbs in the ground except sweet bay.  Sweet bay is a tender perennial and will not survive winters outside so I keep it in a pot to bring in each fall.    I had one a couple of years ago that was supposed to be hardy in our zone and it didn’t make it.  I put my new one in a pot and it has overwintered well in our unheated garage for the last four winters.  Fall is a good time to plant perennial herbs, veggies, fruits and flowers.

Midwest Perennial Vegetable Garden

Rosemary is also tender.  I have tried the several varieties that are supposed to be able to survive a Midwest winter and have yet to find one that will last past 2 seasons.  I have tried to also keep in a pot and bring in each winter. This is an herb I will buy each spring if overwintering does not work out, plant in the garden, then preserve for the winter by harvesting late in the season and drying.

Harvest and preserve your herbs

Make your own "Herbes de Provence"

Flowers are doing great right now in the garden.  They are covered in beneficial insects, butterflies and butterfly caterpillars.  The zinnias, marigolds, petunias, Hummingbird vine, lantana, and Cock's Comb are putting on a big show.  The zinnias, marigolds and Cock's Comb are also edible.  Flowers that are edible

Red zinnia

I started my fall and winter edibles about 10 days ago.  I'm keeping them on the covered patio so they stay as cool as possible for germination.  About half are up so far.  

What I planted this week for fall eating

Get your fall and winter garden growing!

A quick reminder, save the seeds from your best performers that have been disease free to plant next year.  You can replant seeds from any heirlooms or open pollinated plants.  What do the terms GMO, natural, heirloom, organic, hybrid really mean?  Not only does it save you money, but it also gives you the plants that do the best under your garden and zone conditions.

Seed saving-fun, easy and a cost saver

My top 10 seed saving tips

Get your fall and winter garden growing!

Kale in the winter garden

Saturday, August 23, 2025 The great thing about fall and winter edible gardens is little to no pests!  The insects die off in fall so your harvest is safe from pest destruction.  Once you have spent the effort to get the plants established and cool weather is here, fall and winter gardening is very low maintenance.  As it gets cooler, the veggies will get sweeter, too.

 

For more on how to choose varieties to grow, starting seeds and transplanting, see this post.  Time to plant for fall and winter harvests!   You're targeting for your edibles to be full size by early November before daylight hours dwindle to less than 10.  The winter slow down  

 

Look at the germination temperatures of the cool season crops you are starting from seed as some will not germinate well in the hot summer temperatures and you may have better luck starting them in shade or indoors.  Lettuce is one that germinates best at temperatures below 70F.  I like to start my seeds in pots in the shade on our north covered patio.  It gets morning sun but is shaded all afternoon.  Being on the patio lets me keep a close eye on them, too.  After they sprout and are a good size, I move into their permanent spot.

 

Here is a by month schedule of what to plant for fall and winter harvests in a Midwest garden. 

 

June

Seeds-Parsnips, potatoes 

 

July

Seeds-Beets, carrots, Asian greens (pak choi, tat-soi), cilantro, collard greens, endive, escarole, frisee, fennel, green beans, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard, onions, parsnips, rutabaga, scallions, lettuce, sweet corn, turnips, turnip greens, and Swiss chard.  

Transplants-broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, Bibb lettuce.

 

August

Seeds-Beets, carrots, greens (arugula, Chinese cabbage, collard greens, corn salad, kale, lettuce, miner’s lettuce, spinach, mustard, endive, turnip greens), fava beans, green beans, herbs, kohlrabi, onions, snap peas, scallions, snow peas, rutabaga, winter and summer radishes, and turnips.  Early August is last chance for cucumbers, squash, and corn.

Transplants-Asian greens, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, endive, kale, lettuce.  

 

September

Seeds-hardy lettuce and greens, kale, collards, turnips, radishes, kohlrabi, spinach, Asian greens, scallions, carrots, and winter radishes.  Quick maturing peas, favas, and bush beans at beginning of the month. 

Transplants-hardy lettuces, spinach, collards, broccoli, all perennials, trees, shrubs, greens, spinach

Greens in a portable greenhouse

October

Seeds-more spinach, kale, traditional southern and Asian greens, carrots, winter radishes, beets, short day onions if overwintering, peas, perennial onions, garlic and shallots.  In our Zone 7 garden, garlic and shallots can be planted into November.  Order your favorite garlic early as many sell out quick.  Time to plant garlic! With growing tips......

 

If you don’t want to start seeds, have waited too long for seed starting or just want to see what varieties do well in your area, some big box stores and local nurseries will have fall planting veggies.   If none in your area do, there are many mail order seed companies that carry fall bedding plants.

 

  Late August, early September is the best time to get transplants into the garden for fall and winter harvests.  Don't forget to fertilize when planting like you would in the spring.  Keep your transplants watered for them to get established until the fall rains start.

 

Extend the harvest by covering when the first frosts and freezes come to those crops that don’t overwinter without cover.  I grow all my greens and lettuce in pots that I cover around Thanksgiving when it gets consistently down in the 20’s.  I’ll still have lettuce and greens growing in the spring.

What I planted this week for fall eating

"Well used" self watering pot I started my lettuce seeds in

Sunday, August 17, 2025

I started a variety of seeds on Friday for harvesting all fall and winter.  With a portable greenhouse, you can keep the Midwest lettuce salads going all the way to next spring.  This fall, my sowings are for lettuce, arugula, snow peas, chard, leaf mustards, chards, kales and other greens.

The challenge to starting cool season lovers from seed this time of year is that it can be so hot.  Lettuce seeds and other cool season loving plants will not germinate well in ground temps above 70 degrees F.  There are a couple of options for summer time seeding.  You can grow in shade, cover with a shade cloth or start your seedlings indoors move outdoors after they have sprouted.  Right now, it is hot with yesterday's high of 100 and the low of 73F.  The temperatures are supposed to go down somewhat next week with highs in the upper 80's and lows in the 60's.  Hopefully, this will be cool enough for my seeds to sprout.  Outdoor seed starting tips

I like to start in rectangular, self watering pots on our covered patio, close to the watering can on the northeast side of the house. Most of what I have sown will be up in 7 days if kept well watered and the temperatures are conducive.  I let them grow until they have the first set of true leaves and are about 2” tall.  I then transplant them into their permanent home, keeping them well watered for another couple of weeks.  I'll also keep an eye on the temperatures as highs in the 80's can cause cool temperature crops to bolt.  The trick this time of year to planting is getting the plants close to full size by November when daylight hours are too short to support growing.

Here is what I planted.  Be sure to label your seed rows!

Lettuces

You can start to harvest lettuce leaves in as little as 20 days from sowing.  I like to plant a variety of lettuces as they mature at different times.  This is a way to get a continuous crop of lettuce for salads.  I may have went a little overboard this time!  When the temperatures head to the 20's, I'll cover my greens with a portable greenhouse to keep the harvests coming all the way to spring.

Winter Density-a romaine type that is full size in 54 days

Tango-a leaf lettuce that is frilly and light green, full size in 45 days

Landis Winter-a butterhead lettuce that reaches full size in 50 days

North Pole-another butterhead lettuce that is full size in 50 days

Winter Crop-a headed lettuce so approximately 50-60 days

Winterwunder-a loose leaf that is full size in 60 days

Little Red Romaine-a romaine that is full size in 50 days

Bronze Beauty-full size in 40-50 days

Grand Rapids-full size in 45-60 days

Rouge d'Hiver-full size in 60 days

Royal Oak Leaf-full size in 45-55 days

Butter King-full size in 60 days

Red Sails-full size in 45-50 days

Celtuce-Chinese stem lettuce full size in 50-80 days

Spotted Aleppo Syrian Romaine-full size in 50-60 days

Rocky Top lettuce blend-35-50 days to full size

Spinach

Giant Winter-full size in 45-55 days

Oriental Giant-full size in 40 days

Greens

Provencal Winter mix-a variety of greens

Arctic Tundra mix-a variety of greens

Roquette Arugula-full size in 42 days

Mizuna Pink-40 days to full size

Hilton Chinese Cabbage-70 days to full size

Chijimisai Greens-full size in 50-60 days

Chinese Yellow Heart winter choy-45-70 days to full size

Swiss Chard

Barese Swiss chard-full size in 50 days

Japanese Mountain Spinach Swiss chard-full size in 30-40 days

Peas

Little Purple Snow Pea-27" vine, 50 days to harvest

Fruits for next spring

Mignonette Alpine Strawberry

Regina Alpine Strawberry

Ornamentals

Japanese Flowering Kale

Flowering Kale

Platinum Blue flower

Scarlet Echinacea cultivar-since it is seed saved from a cultivar, it may not produce the same as the parent

Blue Fescue grass

All of the greens will have leaves that are harvestable in about half the number of days to get to full size.  On the flip side, it generally takes longer for fall crops to get to full size than the packet says as the temperatures are getting cooler and the daylight shorter going into fall than in spring time.  A rule of thumb is 2 weeks longer to full size.

I like self watering pots because you can fill the reservoir without directly watering the soil surface.  With lettuce the seeds take light to germinate so they are very close to the surface.  Watering the soil itself can dislodge the seeds and move them all around the pot.  This isn't a catastrophe if you have all the same type planted in a pot, but since I have 8 varieties in the same pot, I don't want them moving around so I can see what germinates and how well they do through the season.  

You can start your seeds in any container you prefer.  If you do a coir or peat pot, you can just plant the entire thing in the garden bed after the seedling is up and going strong.  The drawback is that they have to be watered more as so much moisture wicks out of the permeable pot.

 

For this round, I watered the soil well, then planted the seeds, labelling each mini row in my rectangular pots that I start seeds in.  I will continue misting the top to keep the soil moist and filling the reservoir from the bottom.  You don't want the soil to dry out before the seeds have germinated.

After the seedlings are up, I'll wait until they have a few leaves and are about 2" or so tall before transplanting into larger pots for the winter.  Since I planted in August this year instead of September, I will also need to wait for the temperatures to cool down before transplanting.  I cover all my larger self watering pots later in the season when temperatures begin dipping into the 20's with a portable greenhouse to keep the greens going all winter.  How to extend the garden season

If you want to direct seed in your mulched flower bed, dig a shallow trench about a quarter inch deep, fill with potting soil, seed, pat down, then cover lightly with more potting soil.  Water well with a gentle stream of water so you don’t wash the seed away.  I use a rain head on my watering can.  Even better is to get the soil moist, then scatter the seeds, cover lightly with potting soil and pat gently.  Growing fabulous lettuce and greens 

I also have Purple Sprouting broccoli, Giant Blue Feather lettuce, other types of chard, Utah celery, and parsley that has self-seeded.  I should have plenty of greens for salads all the way through winter with covering my self-watering pots over these winter hardy plants.