Planning Your Fall Garden – All the Cool Season Veggies You Can Grow!

An article by Travis Key from Lazy Dog Farm

Our previous blog discussed warm season vegetables and flowers that you can replant in the fall months. None of those warm season vegetables are frost-tolerant and will be killed once you receive your first frost. But there are plenty of cool season vegetables can tolerate a light frost! And these cool season garden vegetables often taste much better in the fall garden when they kissed by a touch of frost.

In this blog we’ll provide a complete list of cool season vegetables that you can plant in the fall. As we mentioned in our previous blog, it’s important to know the average first frost date for your area — especially when planning a fall garden. Your average first frost date and the listed maturity date of what you’re planting will tell you when you should plant — or better yet, give you a deadline of when to make sure you have those vegetables in the ground.

However, planting time is not quite as crucial with these cool season vegetables in the fall garden. These should grow through your first light frost just fine. You will want to make sure they’re done before you start to get really cold temperatures. Here in south Georgia, we can grow many of these throughout the entire winter. But that’s not the case for everyone. When temperatures start getting in the mid to low 20s, damage can occur.

Be sure to keep your soil moist when you start getting some light freezing temperatures. Moist soil will help insulate the plants roots and reduce the potential for damage. Also be sure to feed your plants properly with AgroThrive fertilizer. This will ensure your plants are healthy and they’ll grow true to their listed maturity dates. With that being said, here’s the list!

Beets

Beets tend to be much sweeter when grown in the fall. The cooler temperatures also makes the greens much sweeter than when grown in the spring when temperatures are warming. Make sure you save those greens to sauté or use in a salad. They’re packed with nutrition and a great way to utilize the entire beet plant!

Broccoli

Broccoli plants are relatively frost-tolerant, but the heads aren’t. As a result, broccoli requires a bit more timing than some of the others on this list. If you’re expecting freezing temperatures when broccoli heads are developing on the plants, you’ll want to either harvest those heads or cover the plants to protect them. Even a light freeze can turn a broccoli head to mush.

Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are really cold-tolerant and seem to produce better when we get some freezing temperatures in the fall and early winter months. These do take a long time to grow, so plan accordingly. They also tend to be heavy feeders, so be sure to feed them well with AgroThrive General Purpose for best results.

Cabbage

Cabbage maturity dates can vary a good bit depending on the variety you plant. There are some varieties that are more heat-tolerant and others that are more cold-tolerant. We like to stagger our cabbage plantings in the fall with different varieties. We’ll plant a heat-tolerant variety in late summer / early fall and then a more cold-tolerant variety in mid to late fall.

Carrots

Overwintered carrots are the sweetest and crunchiest carrots you’ll find! Carrots are pretty cold-hardy and will survive in most places throughout the winter. When the plants get kissed by a frost, it makes the carrots sweeter than any grocery store carrot you’ve ever had. If you’re expecting temperatures in the low 20s or below, consider a heavy mulch around the plants to protect them.

Cauliflower

Much like broccoli, cauliflower heads will get damaged by a frost. But the plants will survive a light freeze just fine. Just be prepared to harvest or cover the plants if freezing temperatures are expected while heads are forming.

Greens

Collard greens are some of the most cold-tolerant greens you’ll find. They’re very popular here in the south, and slowly gaining popularity across the country. Mustard greens and turnips are other great fall greens options, but they’ll suffer from a hard freeze.

Kale

Much like many of the vegetables listed above, kale tastes so much better after it has been “kissed” by a light frost. We prefer the curly kale varieties because they seem to be much more productive and cold hardy than the Lacinato or “dinosaur” kale types.

Lettuce

Cooler fall days are the perfect time to grow your own lettuce in the backyard garden. We love growing different varieties of green and red lettuces including butterhead, romaine, oak leaf lettuce, and more!

Sweet Peas

Sweet peas, aka English peas, can be tricky to grow in the spring because they don’t like temperatures in the 80s. That makes fall the perfect time to grow these. A light freeze usually won’t hurt the plants, but it can damage the pods. If you’re expecting freezing temperatures and have pods on your plants, consider covering the plants or harvesting before the freeze arrives.

Radishes

Radishes grow fast and are great for northern gardeners with limited time for a fall garden. Most radish varieties will mature in 30-40 days. If you’re in a southern growing zone, you can succession plant radishes throughout the fall and early winter months for a continual harvest.

Rutabaga

These are one of our favorite root vegetables because the greens are equally delicious. We harvest the rutabaga greens as the plants grow and cook them like collards, mustard, or turnip greens. Once the roots get softball size, we’ll harvest them and make mashed rutabagas for a hearty, nutritious meal!

Spinach

Spinach is perfect for a fall garden because it doesn’t germinate well in warm soils. Here in south Georgia, we have to wait until early November to plant spinach. Ideally you’ll want your soil temperatures in the 60s for best germination. Spinach is really cold-tolerant, so it won’t mind being planted later than the other vegetables on this list.

Thousands of gardeners have been tuning in to The Lazy Dog Farm YouTube channel where Travis covers a variety topics ranging from how to successfully start seedlings to how to make a flavorful hotsauce that packs a punch. Accompanied by his wife Brooklyn and their two boys, the gardens on their 2 acre homestead in southwest Georgia are always filled with a wide variety of vegetables that are enjoyed fresh or preserved for later.