Planning a Fall Vegetable Garden: Counting Back from First Frost

Why fall gardens work so well

Spring-planted cool-season crops mature into lengthening, warming days, which pushes many of them to bolt. Fall crops do the opposite. They grow through the warmth of late summer and mature into cool, shorter days. Many hardy crops, including kale, collards, Brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips, become sweeter after light frosts. Pest pressure is often lower late in the season too.

Count back from your first fall frost

Your ZIP page shows your average first fall frost date, and the safer 10% risk date that frost arrives earlier than only one year in ten. To find the latest planting date for a crop:

Take the crop’s days to maturity from the seed packet.
Add about two weeks for the “fall factor”. Growth slows as days shorten and cool, so crops take longer in fall than the packet says.
For tender crops, count back that total from your first frost. For hardy crops that can keep growing through light frosts, you can count back from a bit later. Many gardeners use a few weeks after first frost for kale and collards.
Allow extra time if you want a long harvest period rather than a single picking.

Example: a 60-day bush bean in a garden with a first frost around October 15. 60 days plus 14 days is 74 days, so sow by about August 2. The seed-starting calculator does this sum for you as the “latest planting date”.

Fall planting windows from our crop table

Counted back from your first fall frost. These are the windows used by the planting calendar:

Crop	Sow or plant for fall	Frost tolerance	Days to harvest
Brussels sprouts	16–14 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	90–110
Broccoli	14–10 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	55–80
Cabbage	14–10 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	60–90
Cauliflower	14–11 wk before first frost	Half-hardy: light frost only	55–80
Collards	12–8 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	60–75
Peas	12–9 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	55–70
Carrot	12–9 wk before first frost	Half-hardy: light frost only	60–80
Bush beans	12–9 wk before first frost	Tender: no frost	50–60
Cucumber	11–9 wk before first frost	Tender: no frost	50–65
Summer squash	11–9 wk before first frost	Tender: no frost	45–60
Kale	10–6 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	50–65
Swiss chard	10–8 wk before first frost	Half-hardy: light frost only	50–60
Turnip	10–6 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	40–60
Kohlrabi	10–8 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	45–60
Beet	10–8 wk before first frost	Half-hardy: light frost only	50–60
Lettuce	8–4 wk before first frost	Half-hardy: light frost only	45–60
Spinach	8–4 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	40–50
Cilantro	8–4 wk before first frost	Half-hardy: light frost only	45–70
Arugula	6–3 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	30–40
Radish	6–3 wk before first frost	Hardy: takes frost	25–30
Garlic	0–4 wk after first frost	Hardy: takes frost	240–270

Garlic is the outlier. It is planted around first frost and harvested the following summer.

The best fall crops

Brassicas: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, collards and Brussels sprouts. Fall broccoli often forms tighter heads than spring broccoli. Start transplants indoors or in a shaded spot in mid-summer, because they need a long lead time.
Roots: carrots, beets, turnips and radishes. Carrots and beets need consistently moist soil to germinate in summer heat.
Greens: lettuce, spinach, arugula, chard and cilantro. Quick crops that can be sown in several rounds until a few weeks before frost.
Peas can work in fall in many areas but are tricky. They need cool weather to flower and set pods, and can struggle when sown in heat.
Quick warm-season crops such as bush beans, cucumbers and summer squash can fit in a last round where the first frost is late enough.

Sowing in summer heat

The hard part of a fall garden is getting seeds up in July and August.

Keep the seedbed moist. Water lightly every day, or twice on hot days, until seedlings emerge.
Shade the soil. A board, burlap or shade cloth over the row keeps the surface cooler and moist. Remove it as soon as seedlings appear.
Sow a little deeper than in spring, where the soil stays cooler and moister.
Start some crops indoors. Lettuce and brassicas germinate more reliably indoors in summer heat and can be transplanted after a short hardening off.
Use the shade of taller crops, such as the east side of tomatoes or corn, for lettuce and spinach.

Clearing summer beds

A fall garden often means removing summer crops while they are still producing. A few ways to handle it:

Plan from the start which beds will be cleared first. Early potatoes, garlic, spring peas and early sweet corn finish in time for fall crops in many areas.
Plant fall transplants between rows of fading crops, then remove the old plants once the new ones are established.
Add compost before replanting to replace what summer crops used.

Stretching the harvest

Hardy greens and roots can keep going well past first frost, especially with protection. Row cover, low tunnels and cold frames add a few degrees on cold nights. Carrots and other roots can often be left in the ground under a thick mulch and dug as needed, depending on how cold your winter gets. See protecting plants from frost. The same covers work in fall.

Regional notes

In hot-summer regions, fall into winter is often the main cool-season growing period. In mountain and northern areas with short seasons, the window between summer harvest and first frost may only allow quick greens and radishes. Your ZIP page shows your growing season length, and your state’s Cooperative Extension service publishes fall planting calendars for your region.

Written for SowByZip. Last reviewed 2026-10-20. See about this site for how pages are made.

Planning a fall garden