What to Plant in The Fall

In our blog on August 26, 2021, Fall Soil Prep for a Stunning Fall Garden, we talked about getting your garden ready for fall gardening, if you missed it you can check it out here. If you followed our guide then you probably have your garden ready for the fall, so let’s talk about what, when, and where to plant your fall garden. Happy Gardening!

Planting Zone

To get started planting a fall vegetable garden in Texas, it's important to plant seeds at the right time: 12-14 weeks prior to the first frost - so late September or early October. It’s also important to know what planting zone you live in. Our area of Texas is in Zone 8, this means that we live in one of the warmest plant hardiness zones. Mild winters and long hot summers make it a great place to plant many different varieties of flowers and vegetables.

What to Plant

Knowing what and when to plant is half the battle. October 1 to 15 is recommended for beets, carrots, collards, garlic, head lettuce, radishes, spinach, and turnips. October 15 to 31 is good for Bermuda onion seeds, parsley, garden peas, radishes, spinach, turnips, and carrots. Urban Farmer has a great visual of when and what to plant to be successful with your fall vegetable garden!

Location, Location, Location

Vegetables love the sun, the more the better! With that in mind, you will want to plant your garden somewhere where your plants will get 6-8 hours of sunlight. Remember to plant taller plants in the back and shorter plants in the front, this ensures that all plants will receive the light that they need. Make sure you rotate where you plant your vegetables if you have had them planted in years past. This helps to outsmart pesky pests and promote healthy soil.

Where to Plant

If you are living in an older home your soil could be full of contaminants and that is not something that you want your vegetables to be growing in! A great option to avoid this is a raised garden bed. You can buy a premade one like this one, or if you are handy you could make your own, this is a great DIY raised bed. Using a raised garden bed will also put you in control of the soil that you are growing your food in. It will also put you in control of the drainage of your soil, this is very important! You will want to use a good garden mix amended with compost and organic fertilizer.