What Vegetables To Plant In The Fall

The charts in this newsletter pull together three of the most important pieces of information gardeners need in order to choose what vegetable plants to grow in the fall: plant hardiness, days to maturity, and soil pH.

Maturity Time + Plant Hardiness: It’s best to consider maturity time and plant hardiness simultaneously because they play off of each other. For example, maturity time is crucial when growing tender plants for they will die with the first frost. In contrast, the date by which hardy plants will mature is less critical because they will keep right on growing despite the freezing weather.

Below you will find charts that group vegetables as hardy, semi-hardy, or tender, and state the growing time and ideal soil pH for each one. We’ve created a separate chart for tomatoes (all of which are tender) because we sell so many varieties of them. Please scroll down if you would like to immediately start working with the charts.

The Importance of Soil pH: Having your soil at the ideal pH is one of the keys to getting a good harvest. We recommend you do a quick and easy test of your soil to find out its pH and then keep that number in mind when choosing what you want to grow. Our Guide to Fall Vegetable Planting includes information on soil testing and how to prepare your soil for the fall growing season.

Of course, pH and other aspects of your soil can be changed. To learn how to change your soil’s pH, consult our Guide to Soil and Soil Testing that discusses a variety of soil tests and also goes into the diverse ways by which soil can be improved.

Getting Ready to Grow: By taking advantage of our charts and other online resources, it’s easy to plan a fall vegetable garden with as much precision as the pros. Just take out or pull up your calendar and figure out when the starter plants you’re interested in will reach maturity based on the date you intend to plant them.

Alternately you can choose the dates by which you want to harvest certain plants and then count backwards to find out what dates they will need to be planted by.

Please note that it’s advisable to add on about ten extra days to the stated maturity date because plants grow more slowly in the fall.

Then go to PlantMaps.com and enter your ZIP Code to find out your climate zone and when the first frost date will be in your area. Also take a look at the other valuable information about your area that this wonderful site provides. You may have to revise some of your planting times so that the plants will have time to successfully mature. If you can’t accommodate a plant, just cross it off your list.

You will now have narrowed down your list, but you may want to narrow it further by considering your soil’s pH and crossing off those plants that will not do well in your soil. Alternately, you can plan to modify your soil’s pH to accommodate the plants that you want to grow.

Lastly, place your order, which we’ll ship out to you and guarantee your plants will arrive healthy and alive. To make ordering as easy as possible, we have included live links on the charts below so that you can simply click on a plant you are interested in to be taken directly to its page on our website.

We hope you will find these charts valuable as you go about planning your fall garden. We thank you in advance for your business, and wish you a great fall and winter harvest from all of us at GrowJoy!

GrowJoy Fall Planting Charts

Hardy Veggies (withstand hard frosts/freezing temps)

Name	Ideal pH	Days to Mature
Brussels Sprouts	6.5	90
Collards	5.5 – 6.5	60
Kale	5.5 – 6.5	55
Lettuce	6 – 6.7	55 – 68

Semi-hardy Veggies (withstand light frosts)

Name	Ideal pH	Days to Mature
Beets	6.0 – 6.5	58
Carrots	6.3	65 – 75
Cabbage	6.5 – 7	105
Cauliflower	6.5 – 7	50 – 60
Peppers	6.5 – 7	75 – 85

Tender Veggies (will not withstand first frost)

Name	Ideal pH	Days to Mature
Snap Bean	6.0	60
Cucumber	6 – 7	50 – 60
Okra	6.5 – 7.5	50

Tomatoes (All are tender, all need 6 – 6.8 pH)

Type	Days to Mature
Better Boy	75
Cherokee Purple	85

Photo courtesy of Urban Home and Garden