Top Fall Vegetable Seeds to Grow for Autumn Harvests

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Late summer may be busy with harvesting, but it’s also a fantastic time to start fresh autumn crops. There are still warm, bright days between now and the first frost, and we can use that gap to grow quick-growing fall vegetable seeds like spinach, lettuce, and radishes. They, among others, are on this list of other vegetables that mature in as little as a month to sixty days. Use it to plan and grow your fall vegetable garden, and to extend your growing season!

25+ Fall Vegetable Seeds to grow in the weeks before your first frost. This list includes greens, roots, and herbs, and the best varieties #gardening #garden #vegetablegarden

We’re in the middle of glut season. Baskets of tomatoes, mountains of zucchini, and more green beans than we could possibly eat. It may be far from our minds, but within weeks, our veg will begin dying down, and patches of once productive garden space will be empty. However, if we act now, it’s possible to grow tender greens, lush roots, and even peas right through the cooler days of autumn. With a bit of forethought, we can even extend the season into early winter.

To keep the harvests coming in, use the fall vegetable seeds below to start your cool season garden. There’s also guidance on choosing the right varieties to grow and when to start them from seed. If you put in a little effort now, you’ll reap the rewards in as little as a month! When many other fall gardens are bare, yours will be filled with tasty greens and succulent root veggies.

What to Plant in Your Fall Garden

Many fall crops are planted in spring and early summer and need all summer to grow. Pumpkins, squash, New Zealand yams, and sweet potatoes all fit into this category. If you don’t give them enough time to mature, they won’t have a chance to produce a crop before cold weather arrives. Fortunately, there are also many quick-to-grow fall crops, including leafy greens, herbs, and even root vegetables that you can grow for speedy autumn crops.

With these, you typically sow the seeds in mid-to-late summer and harvest the vegetables before winter—crops like lettuce, arugula, beets, radishes, and cilantro. Sowing fall vegetable seeds can give you a second chance at spring vegetables! You can also grow crops that usually need more time to mature, such as kale, carrots, and peas, for baby leaves, roots, and shoots.

An angled view of a border created using a wooden raised bed set on a paved patio against a short concrete wall. In the bed are a mixture of healthy plants, flowers, and vegetables. — This late summer garden border includes fruit trees, kale, herbs, and seedlings for fall harvests.

The reason we can grow so many spring vegetables in fall is that as summer comes to a close temperatures cool down, rain can return, and our daylight hours begin to dwindle. Crops that thrive in spring conditions can grow again and produce a fresh, green crop. Before we get to the list of vegetables you can grow, let’s cover the two main points to be aware of when sowing seeds for autumn crops: your first frost date and how long crops need to mature. Both are simple to understand.

Calculating Your First Frost Date

If you’re trying to squeeze in some last quick-growing crops before winter, you’ll need to know when your first frost date is. This is the day when it becomes cold enough for hoar frost to form on leaves. Frost damages and kills tender leaves and stops growth in more rugged vegetables. If you use the USDA growing zone system, this means that those further north or with lower zones will have more difficulty growing fall vegetables than those in higher zones.

The view of a raised bed from one end. Inside are a dense planting of peas, chard, lettuce, pak choi, parsley, and cilantro. — Fall crops growing together in a dense polyculture bed.

Not sure when your first frost date is? If you live in the USA, these are your first frost dates based on state and city. For the UK, your first frost dates tend to be between October 1st and December 11th. You can find first frost dates for different parts of Canada and Europe via this page.

Fall crops are typically sown in August and harvested before mid-October.

You use this date to make sure you have enough time for crops to mature before freezing frost appears. Have a look at your calendar and count back the days to maturity for any crop from the lists below. That will be the last day that you can sow seeds. You typically want to sow in the few weeks before that date.

Vegetable Days to Maturity Chart

The time it takes a seed to grow into a crop varies from vegetable to vegetable. It can also vary by variety (always check your seed packets) and time of year. Take lettuce, for example. Lettuces need about 40-60 days to grow to maturity. That’s because some lettuce varieties mature more quickly than others, and growing conditions can change. It can take longer for lettuce to grow and mature in cooler weather than in warmer. Sow in late spring, and it may only take forty days, but sow in late summer, and it may take longer.

Two types of kale, carrots, lettuce, and cilantro (flowering).

So how do you know which vegetables to grow? It’s entirely up to you, and feel free to experiment. You could even get away with less hardy or less speedy veg if you grow them under a cloche or tunnel. However, if you’d like my advice, I recommend you choose fall vegetable seeds that:

Fast-growing veg like arugula (rocket) is perfect for fall harvests.

You like to eat (always important).
Varieties that are resistant to autumn pests and diseases, like powdery mildew.
Vegetables bred for fall growing conditions in your region.
Varieties that will mature as quickly as possible. Look for days to maturity on the seed packet for this info. Miniature or dwarf varieties can also mature quicker than standard-sized veg.

A hand holds a bouquet of kale, beet, and perpetual spinach leaves. the background is a pretty fall garden with dahlias and cosmos blooming. — Leafy greens are great crops to grow in a fall vegetable garden

Fast-Growing Fall Vegetables Seeds (A-M)

Below is a list of quick-growing vegetables you can grow in your fall vegetable garden. It includes cool-season vegetables like spinach and chard, as well as Asian vegetables and even peas. All of these crops will mature within sixty days, and many can tolerate light frost and cold. That means you can grow them in cold frames or with some other protection and have crops to harvest through early winter.

Quick growing vegetables are ideal for the fall vegetable garden.

Fall vegetable	Details	Days to maturity
Arugula (rocket)	This peppery leaf is easy to grow and can be used in dishes ranging from salads to rice and pizza toppings. It’s also known as rocket, and that accurately describes how fast it grows! Try Arugula, Astra, Wild Rocket, and Wasabi rocket.	45-60 days
Beets	Beets can be grown for their roots or their Swiss chard-like flavored greens. If you sow the seeds for greens, you’ll get a quick harvest of baby leaves to use in salads or cooked dishes in less than a month. The fastest maturing beet varieties to grow are Wodan, Bolthardy, and Early Wonder.	21-60 days
Bok choi (Chinese cabbage)	A mild-flavored crisp vegetable that can be used both raw and cooked. Though each plant needs about 60-70 days and a square foot to mature into full size, you can grow ‘baby’ leaves much quicker and in less space.	25-70 days
Cress (land cress)	There are a few different types of cress, but the type best for autumn growing is land cress, also called American cress. It can be grown densely for small sprouts (even indoors in containers) or spaced out 4-6″ apart for larger plants and leaves. Its peppery leaves are great for winter salads.	14-50 days
Corn salad	This hardy and mild salad green is easy to grow, especially if you choose a variety bred for fall harvests. Corn salad is also called lamb’s lettuce or mâche.	35-60 days
Lettuce	There are dozens of different types of lettuce, but leaf lettuce varieties and those that are winter hardy are best. Some good choices are Winter Density, Red Salad Bowl, and Little Gem.	40-60 days
Mibuna	This leafy green Asian vegetable has a peppery, mustardy flavor, and is commonly used uncooked in salads. You can also add it to stir-fries or use it as a topping for savory dishes.	40-50 days
Mizuna	Similar to Mibuna, this Japanese green resembles arugula (rocket) and is used predominantly in salads and uncooked dishes.	40-50 days
Mustard greens	These hot and peppery leaves are great in salads, stir-fries, and other dishes that need a little heat. They also overwinter well if kept frost-free, but while the young leaves are tender and flavorful, older leaves can be bitter.	30-40 days

Fast-Growing Fall Vegetables Seeds (N-Z)

When you sow quick-growing vegetable seeds, you can either sow directly in the soil or into small pots or modules. The latter method helps you to keep a closer eye on the seedlings and better protect them from pests, like slugs. You plant the young plants in their final position once they have true leaves and/or they have outgrown their container. You can also save seeds with this method since there’s less thinning to do.

Lettuces need only 5-8 weeks of temperate weather to produce a crop.

Fall vegetable	Details	Days to maturity
Pak choi	This upright succulent green vegetable has a fleshy base and robust green leaves. It has a very mild flavor and is also known as bok choi, pak choy, and other spelling variations.	45-75 days
Peas for shoots	While the pods take much longer to harvest, you can sow pea seeds to harvest as tasty pea shoots. This is an extra quick crop and works well for containers. One of the best ways to grow them is to sow them thickly into shallow trays or an old piece of gutter. Keep them watered and out of the reach of slugs and mice, and you’ll have pea shoots to harvest within days.	10-14 days
Radishes	Radishes are a relatively trouble-free vegetable that loves growing in cooler conditions, such as fall. These colorful little root veggies come in different shapes and colors and are not to be confused with winter radishes. That type is covered further below.	30-60 days
Spinach	Succulent and green spinach leaves can be a lot easier to grow as an autumn crop due to their tendency to bolt in summer. Varieties great for autumn growing include Matador, Giant Winter, and Butterflay.	35-45 days
Summer squash	If you choose a quick-growing variety, you could be harvesting summer squash in as little as six weeks from sowing! Though these vegetables are sensitive to cold, you could start the seeds in August and have a fresh crop of zucchini by the end of September. The best summer squash varieties to grow for fall gardens are Black Beauty zucchini, yellow crookneck, and Peter Pan, a type of pattypan squash.	35-70
Swiss chard	This earthy green vegetable grows fast and can survive outdoors all winter in mild climates. You can even get a flush of new green leaves the following spring.	40-60 days
Turnips	Quick-growing turnips plump up to the size of radishes in about a month but need more time to reach full maturity. Older and water-stressed turnips can taste bitter or spicy, so they can be ideal for a quick and milder fall crop.	30-50 days

Fall Vegetable Seeds (Matures in 70-90 Days)

Some vegetables that mature in autumn grow slowly and need to be sown well in advance. They’re well worth the effort, though, and can give you big, wholesome harvests. If you don’t have the time to grow these vegetables to maturity, many can be picked to use as baby leaves, roots, shoots, or stems.

A close-up view of a purple Brussels sprouts stem with small rosettes of Brussels sprouts forming above where each leaf attaches. — Some fall vegetable seeds need more time to grow, like these purple Brussels sprouts.

Fall vegetable	Details	Days to maturity
Brussels sprouts	Brussels sprout plants usually need three to four months to grow before you can begin picking sprouts from the main stem. The quickest to grow are small to dwarf varieties such as Tasty Nuggets and Long Island.	80-130
Cabbage	Many varieties of cabbage mature in autumn and in mild areas, they can stay in situ for harvests in autumn and winter. Sow cabbage seeds well in advance since it takes up to three months for them to reach maturity. Popular varieties include January King, Tundra, and Brunswick.	50-90 days
Carrots	Most large storage carrots are sown earlier in the summer for harvesting and storing at the end of the season. However, you can also sow quicker-growing varieties such as Paris Market (Parisian), Amsterdam Forcing, and Nantes later in summer for fresh harvests in early autumn.	55-80 days
Cauliflower	Like other brassicas, cauliflower need at least a couple of months to produce a fully grown head. The quickest may be EarliSnow, Snow Peak, and Romanesco Early. There are also varieties that grow practically all year round in mild climates, such as All The Year Round.	50-100 days
Cilantro	This popular herb is common in Asian and Latin American food, including soups, salsa, salads, and ethnic savory dishes. It’s also called coriander or coriander leaf and takes up to two months to produce large bunches of leaves.	45-60 days
Endive	Though they look like lettuce, endives have slightly bitter, crispy leaves suitable for cooking or for salads. There are a few different types, including curly, broad-leafed, and Belgian, and they’re often grown as an autumn crop, especially in mild regions such as the UK.	42-95 days
Kailaan (Gai Lan)	If you’re not yet familiar with this vegetable, it has thick, fleshy cabbage-flavored leaves you can use in stir-fries, salads, and other dishes that call for cabbage leaves and greens. They need less time to harvest if you’re cutting them for baby greens. To reach maturity, they require significantly more time, and each plant needs approximately a square foot to grow. Also called Chinese broccoli.	21-70 days
Kale	Tender baby kale leaves are fantastic in salads or lightly sauteed. They only take about a month to be ready to harvest, but if you want fully grown leaves, you’ll need to account for more time. Cavolo Nero is a popular variety for autumn harvests, as is Red Russian, with its more tender leaves. I also grow a perennial kale called Taunton Deane that you can harvest year-round.	50-75 days
Kohlrabi	Sweet and tender kohlrabi is a hardy vegetable that grows well in spring and warm autumn weather. It grows what looks like a root or bulb, but it’s actually a swollen stem with sweet, cabbagy, crunchy flesh. There are purple and green varieties, with the best ones for autumn sowing being Superschmeltz, Kolibri, Quickstar, and Azur Star	50-70 days
Parsnips	This slow-growing vegetable is not one for later sowings, in my opinion, but is well worth sowing early in late spring for autumn and winter harvests. The quickest-growing varieties are All-American, Kral Russian, and Hollow Crown, which each need around 100 days to mature (after germination).	90-180 days
Peas	It’s possible to get a second crop of peas in the fall if you grow dwarf/miniature varieties such as Meteor and/or powdery mildew-resistant varieties such as Sugar Ann and Terrain. Snow pea (mangetout) and sugar snap peas are the best to grow since you can eat the pods whole at any point. You can also peas to harvest as tender green shoots rather than pods.	70-90 days
Rutabaga (Swede)	Though these hardy root vegetables need a long time to grow, they can withstand cold winter temperatures. When they’re mature, they can stay in the garden and come out the other side of a sub-zero night with no damage at all. The quickest growing rutabaga varieties include Joan, Laurentian, Marian, and American Purple Top.	90-120 days
Winter radishes	Unlike salad radishes, winter radishes need much more time to mature. They also tend to be larger, firmer, and cold-hardy. Grow them before the end of summer, and they’ll likely bolt, but grow them as a fall crop, and they’ll reward you with rows of tasty root vegetables. Some that I’ve grown before are Spanish Black, China Rose, and Watermelon radish. You could also grow Daikon radishes.	60-70 days

Getting Sowing Times Just Right

There’s a window of time from the summer solstice to late summer that we can sow fall vegetable seeds. Sow after this point, and there may not be time for the crops to mature. Start seeds before this window, and the crops may bolt due to water or heat stress or from light hours. Vegetables are well aware of how many hours of daylight there are, and it can cause them to bolt.

The view of a no-dig bed with rows of leafy greens including lettuce and spinach. — Spinach and lettuce are less likely to bolt if grown after the summer solstice.

Photoperiodism describes how plants respond to the number of hours of light. More accurately, they’re aware of hours of darkness vs light. Leaves are little solar panels, and they communicate to the whole plant if the night length is optimal for seed production.

Close-up view of chard leaves and stems beginning to bolt. — Bolting happens as a natural part of a plant’s lifecycle or due to stress.

This time varies by plant, but long-day vegetables all aim to set seed when hours of light rise above a critical threshold. That’s typically when there are more than 12 hours of sunlight.

Growing Long-Day Vegetables

Some veg, like spinach, aim to set seed near the shortest night (longest day) of the year. For those in the northern hemisphere, that’s usually June 21st. That means that even if you keep it well-watered and shaded around this time, it will still tend to bolt (go to seed). The same goes for turnips, arugula (rocket), and most other veg.

Leafy green vegetables growing under square-topped metal hoops and butterfly netting. — Fall crops protected from wild animals nibbling at them with hoops and netting.

The trick to growing long-day vegetables is to grow them so that they mature before the summer solstice or after. In other words, you’ll have a better chance of a good harvest when sowing spinach in late July and August than in May. That makes spinach an excellent choice for your fall vegetable garden.

The view over a raised bed filled with lush green leaves. You can see tall purple radishes sticking out the ground in the foreground. — A fall vegetable garden bed filled with chard, radishes, parsley, and beets

When it’s Too Late for Fall Vegetable Seeds

Many autumn vegetables sown from seed will tend to be green and leafy. Think lettuces, Asian greens, and cool climate herbs and leaves. If you’re a little late in sowing, another way to extend the season is to buy plug plants. Some seed companies offer them from late July to August, and I’ve bought them before. It’s a quick and efficient way to skip the initial growing time and give your fall vegetable garden a head start.

Give perennial oniony greens a chop in late summer so they regrow for fall.

You can also encourage new growth on non-woody perennial herbs by cutting them back hard. Herbs like peppermint, lemon balm, lovage, Welsh onions, Egyptian walking onions, and chives will grow new shoots and leaves up to the first frost. Bring them indoors or under cover if you’d like to extend the season even further.

More Fall Vegetable Garden Inspiration

Sowing quick-to-grow seeds is a smart and satisfying way to grow crops before winter arrives. If you have more patience, there are also perennial crops to grow for autumn harvests. With these, you plant them once and get harvests for many years. My favorites are autumn-bearing raspberries, but there are also Chinese artichokes, Jerusalem artichokes, apples, sloes, rose hips, and even wild mushrooms.

A hand holds a clear plastic container filled with ripe yellow and red raspberries. The raspberry bushes they were picked from are in the background. — Autumn-bearing raspberries crop from August to October in my garden.

There are also plenty of fall garden jobs besides sowing seeds and harvesting. It’s a good time to start new garden beds, continue composting, and plan next year’s garden. Here are a few more ideas for you:

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