What can I still plant this fall?
Enter your first-frost date and get a plant-by date for every fall crop — plus the garlic window for your zone. Free, no signup, from the makers of Homestead Paradise.
First frost Oct 15 is 23 days out. 3 of 19 crops still have a window from seed.
| Crop | Days | Cold | Plant by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cauliflower (transplant) | 79 | semi-hardy | Aug 4 | Too late |
| Cabbage (transplant) | 89 | hardy | Aug 8 | Too late |
| Peas (fall) | 74 | semi-hardy | Aug 9 | Too late |
| Carrots | 84 | hardy | Aug 13 | Too late |
| Swiss chard | 69 | semi-hardy | Aug 14 | Too late |
| Broccoli (transplant) | 79 | hardy | Aug 18 | Too late |
| Leaf lettuce | 64 | semi-hardy | Aug 19 | Too late |
| Bok choy | 59 | semi-hardy | Aug 24 | Too late |
| Cilantro | 59 | semi-hardy | Aug 24 | Too late |
| Scallions | 69 | hardy | Aug 28 | Too late |
| Beets | 69 | hardy | Aug 28 | Too late |
| Turnips | 64 | hardy | Sep 2 | Past for seed — transplants work |
| Kale | 74 | very hardy | Sep 6 | Past for seed — transplants work |
| Collards | 74 | very hardy | Sep 6 | Past for seed — transplants work |
| Mustard greens | 54 | hardy | Sep 12 | Past for seed — transplants work |
| Arugula | 49 | hardy | Sep 17 | Past for seed — transplants work |
| Radish | 42 | hardy | Sep 24 | This week |
| Spinach | 56 | very hardy | Sep 24 | This week |
| Baby kale | 44 | very hardy | Oct 6 | Still time |
“Days” = typical days to maturity from seed (from transplant where marked), plus 14 for shortening fall days. Check your packet — varieties differ.
How this is figured
Fall planting runs backward from frost. Take the days to maturity on the packet, add about two weeks because growth slows as the days shorten, and count back from your first-frost date — that’s your last seed date. The twist is that not every crop has to finish before frost: tender things do, but hardy greens shrug off light frost and the truly cold-hardy ones (spinach, kale, collards, carrots) keep going for weeks after it — and taste better for it. If you’ve missed the seed window, a transplant from the feed store buys back three to four weeks.
Next season, the calendar knows your frost date
A planting calendar that runs on your dates, not a chart’s
Homestead Paradise builds your planting calendar from your own frost dates and forecast — succession sowings, transplant timing, and harvest logs so this year’s yields become next year’s plan. Harold, your Smart Advisor, reads the calendar and the weather together.
“First frost is likely in about five weeks. Spinach and radishes still make it from seed; the beets won’t — but there’s time for broccoli transplants, and garlic’s window opens in ten days.” Your Smart Advisor points things out and suggests what he’d do — you decide.
Free plan, no card. Export to CSV anytime; we don’t train any model on your records.
More for the fall
Common questions
What vegetables can I plant in the fall?
Fast, cold-tolerant crops: radishes, arugula, spinach, lettuce, mustard, turnips, beets, kale, collards, chard, bok choy, cilantro, scallions and carrots from seed; broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower from transplants. Which of those still fit depends entirely on your first-frost date — that is what the calculator works out.
When should I plant garlic?
Around your first fall frost — roughly two to six weeks before the ground freezes — so the cloves root but don’t sprout much before winter. That is late September to October in zones 3–5, October to November in 6–7, November into December in 8–9, and December or later in zone 10, where softneck varieties and a few weeks of pre-chilling in the fridge help.
How late can I plant spinach or kale?
Later than almost anything. Both are hardy enough to keep growing after the first frost, so you can seed them up to about four weeks before frost and still harvest for weeks past it — spinach even overwinters under cover in many zones. Kale gets sweeter after a freeze.
Do fall crops really need extra days?
Yes — add about two weeks to the packet’s days-to-maturity. Shorter days and cooler nights slow growth noticeably by mid-fall, so a 45-day crop is more like 60 in September than in May. The calculator already builds that in.
From the 2B Creations workshop
Feeders & waterers that stop the waste.
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