You might think of fall as a time for winding down in the garden, but we like to think of it as a whole new growing season! The air is crisp, the soil is still warm, and it’s the perfect time to plant all sorts of wonderful things. With less heat and fewer pests to worry about, fall planting is one of gardening’s best-kept secrets.

Whether you’re dreaming of harvesting fresh greens for your autumn salads, planting flowers for a final burst of color, or giving new trees and shrubs a strong start, this is your season. Let's dig in and explore all the amazing things you can plant in the fall!

Cool-Season Veggies & Herbs

There’s nothing quite like harvesting fresh food from your garden when there's a chill in the air. The trick to a successful fall veggie patch is knowing your area's average first frost date. Once you have that, you can count backward to figure out the best time to plant. For example, if Chinese cabbage takes about 50 days to mature, you'll want to plant it about two months before that first frost is expected.

Many cool-season veggies, like kale and collards, can handle a light frost—in fact, a little nip of cold can make them taste even sweeter! Giving your fall veggies and herbs a great start in rich, nutritious soil will set them up for an amazing harvest. If you're planting in pots, a quality organic potting mix is a great choice, while filling a raised bed or enriching your in-ground beds with an organic raised bed and garden soil will give your plants the foundation they need. A boost from an organic plant food a few weeks after planting will keep them growing strong.

Herbs to Plant: cilantro, chives, parsley, sage, thyme

Semi-Hardy Veggies: beets, carrots, cauliflower, celery, Chinese cabbage, endive, Irish potatoes, lettuce, radicchio, rutabaga, Swiss chard

Hardy Veggies: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, English peas, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, mustard greens, radishes, spinach, turnips

Fall Flowers for Now and Later

Autumn is a fantastic time for flowers. You can choose cheerful annuals for a quick splash of color that lasts until the first hard frost, or you can plant hardy perennials that will come back to reward you year after year, or both! Fall is also the perfect time to plant spring-flowering bulbs like tulips and daffodils, giving them the cold winter they need to put on a colorful spring show.

For brilliant blooms, plant your flowers in a quality potting mix for containers or an all-purpose garden soil for in-ground beds. About a month after planting, start feeding them with a flower food that promotes big, beautiful blooms to keep the color coming.

Annuals for Instant Fall Color: mum, pansy, viola, ornamental kale, chrysanthemum, calibrachoa, petunia, purple fountain grass

Perennials for Lasting Fall Color: sedum, coral bells, coreopsis, gaillardia, black-eyed Susan, salvia, allium, sweet flag, blue star

Spring Bulbs to Plant in Fall: crocus, daffodil, narcissus, hyacinth, tulip

Trees and Shrubs for the Future

Fall is the absolute best time to plant most trees and shrubs. Planting after the intense heat of summer has passed allows them to focus all their energy on growing a strong, deep root system instead of producing new leaves. This head start on root growth is the secret to a healthy, thriving plant next spring.

Try to get your new trees and shrubs in the ground in early to mid-fall, giving them plenty of time to get settled before the ground freezes. To give them the best possible start, mix some garden soil for trees and shrubs into the native soil. This will help create a nourishing environment for those new roots. After planting, a layer of natural mulch around the base (but not touching the trunk) will help protect them from the coming cold. Then, next spring, you can welcome them back with plant food spikes made for trees and shrubs to fuel their new growth.

Trees to Plant: Chinese pistache, maple, Japanese maple, fruit trees, dogwood, honey locust, linden, pine, spruce

Shrubs to Plant: hydrangea, beautyberry, sweetshrub, blueberry, spirea, viburnum, sumac

Getting your hands in the soil during the cool, crisp days of fall is one of gardening's greatest joys. The work you do now is a wonderful investment in the beauty and bounty your garden will bring next spring.