08/25/2026
If your summer garden didn't pan out so well with all the year's weather challenges, don't give up! You can plant a fall garden and enjoy fresh garden produce until the first frost. This information gives some suggestions.
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Extend your vegetable garden into the fall!
Several vegetables can be planted in late summer for a fall crop. For a fall crop, plant beets, carrots, Swiss chard, kohlrabi, and kale in early to mid-August, plant leaf lettuce and spinach in late August to early September, and plant radishes from mid-to late September.
Due to hot, dry soil conditions, seed germination in late summer is often rather poor. To promote seed germination, plant fall vegetables when the soil is moist after a rain, sow the seeds slightly deeper than spring plantings and lightly water the row after the seeds have been sown.
Lettuce seeds are sensitive to extreme heat. To achieve good lettuce seed germination, check the weather forecast and sow the seeds when a prolonged period of mild weather is predicted.
Learn more about fall planting of vegetables: https://go.iastate.edu/KJXTLF
Iowa State University Extension and Outreach ISU Extension and Outreach - Agriculture and Natural Resources
