What to Plant in September

It’s been rainy here in the garden the last couple days, and with Pumpkin Spice back on the menu it is starting to feel like fall. So, what is a gardener to do once the days start shortening? It’s still a wonderful time in the garden and time to plan how you can extend your season so that you can keep harvesting. September isn’t too late to start a garden! Well, depending on what you want in the garden. You can plant some fast growing veggies in September and have enough time to harvest them later in the season. 

This is also a great time to start a container garden. Find out more about why & how here! 

Earlier this year I loaded up Farmer’s Almanac’s Planting Calendar, typed in my zip code and was given the best plant / transplant dates for spring and fall. These dates are based on the average frost dates and even on gardening by the moon’s phases – which I’m learning more about, stay tuned! It also recently came to my attention that my little corner of the world has adjusted from zone 8b to 8b/9a. Did you know that you can live in multiple zones? I did not. But it makes sense being where we are, and it also means… we have a longer growing season! Hurrah!

What Vegetables to plant in September

1. Transplant Brassicas – Cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage (we started these back in August)
2. Beets 
3. Peas 
4. Swiss Chard 
5. Lettuce
6. Arugula 
7. Spinach 
8. Radishes 

Transplant Brassicas – cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage

As I talked about in my What to Plant in August post, I direct sowed cabbage and cauliflower in early August and hope to have them ready for a late fall harvest. However, if you didn’t do that you can grab some starts from your local farm / garden store and get them in the ground! I started broccoli in seed trays that I will be transplanting into the garden. The broccoli I’m growing need to stay in the garden over winter so they will be ready in the spring! 

NOTES: Brassicas have never been my best crop. The pests love ’em, and breaking down broccoli and finding worms is one of the yuckiest parts of gardening in my opinion. Sometimes they are so over run I just toss the broccoli in the compost bin. Fall is a great time to get the brassicas going since there aren’t as many pest problems when the cold rolls in. When planting in garden boxes I tend to throw out spacing recommendations, as I talked about in the rules I break in the garden.This has always worked pretty well for me, and you can find out more about that here!

Beets

Beets grow pretty quickly and I love watching them pop up, however I have a hard time with them being on the smaller size. Okay, this might be because I get too excited and pick them as soon as I can see the root is bigger than a pencil eraser. I finally had patience this summer and ended up with some nicely sized beets! You can find out how I plant these here. Beets are a great successive plant so if you planted some back in August you’ll have a longer harvest if you get more in the dirt now!

Lettuce

I don’t know about you, but all of my lettuce bolted once the days got hotter. Most of my lettuce is in container planters on our back deck and I moved them into a spot with more shade, but the heat took its toll. I’m so excited to pick fresh lettuce in just a few weeks and hopefully through the end of the year. My four year old has a book that has the best tutorial for planting lettuce – Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. Pat, pat, pat. Now make some rain! I repeat this mantra whenever we’re planting lettuce. I make incredibly shallow lines where I want my lettuce rows and sprinkle the seeds along. Next we pat the dirt to lightly cover the seeds and water with a very gentle setting on our hose. Once the lettuce starts popping up I thin them out, I do this in stages. I thin them out to about one every inch, then another inch as they grow larger and start crowding each other. 

Peas

Peas need cool weather. I have tried planting peas in August for the fall garden with no luck since it’s still too hot. This year I’m hoping planting them later will help. I grow my peas up my cattle panel trellis which is currently occupied by tomatoes, squash and beans. When it’s time to plant I’m going to simply direct sow the seeds next to the plants currently growing. The plants that are currently growing will provide shade for the delicate pea shoots, and once the peas are really taking over it will be about time to move the other veggies on out.

Swiss Chard

Okay I’m going to admit something. I think I grow Swiss Chard more for the aesthetic than anything. Sure I could throw it in smoothies, but I typically don’t. Its huge, vibrant green leaves and colorful stalks are enough to keep me growing it. I also don’t use many seeds for it so I still have a packet full of seeds to plant that I bought years ago…  This spring I planted Swiss Chard in one corner of one of my garden boxes, I planted three seeds spaced six-ish inches apart and there are three huge plants thriving together. 

Radishes

Radishes are another cool weather crop that will grow quickly, and also bolt quickly if it is too hot. You can also plant your radishes very closely together, about an inch apart, so that’s 16 radishes in one square foot! Make 16 shallow holes, about 1/4 inch, and place 2-3 seeds in each hole. Cover lightly with soil and water gently. Make sure the seeds are constantly moist as they are growing. Thin them out as they grow, about an inch between each radish. Radishes are ready quickly so try out successive sowing for multiple harvests! 

Arugula

I sprinkle arugula seeds in little batches instead of lines. I sprinkle a tiny pinch into a very shallow hole around my lettuce. Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. Pat, pat, pat. Make it rain! (I’m going to repeat this until it is burned into your brain!)

Spinach

I use the square foot method when planting spinach. In my plotted square foot I make 9 shallow holes four inches apart. Add 2-3 seeds in every hole and then once they grow thin them out to one every 4 inches. Spinach can get large, so make sure you leave enough room! Which is a little surprising when you’re used to buying baby spinach in bulk at the grocery store. 

And there you have it! That’s what I’ll be busying myself with come September, ya know, on top of keeping up with the summer harvest and preserving. I can’t wait to see what works this fall and hopefully I can keep some crops going through the winter, looking at you lettuce and spinach. Happy fall planting, I hope to see you in the garden soon!