It’s the end of August here in Ohio – the nights are cooling off, tomatoes & peppers continue to produce fruit to no end, but you still have the itch to keep planting.
Luckily, there is still a ton of stuff you can plant!
Being in zone 5, our last frost date is approximately mid-October – that means we’ve got about 2 months to get growing! With ~60 days, you won’t have enough time for corn, potatoes, or tomatoes, but there are a few options.
Cold-weather crops
- Arugula (rocket)
- Beets
- Collards
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Celery (mild winter climates)
- Chard
- Coriander (Cilantro)
- Fennel
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce
- Mizuna
- Mustard greens
- Onions (bulbing)
- Onions (bunching–standard onions harvested before they form bulbs).
- Pak choi (Bok choy)
- Peas
- Radishes
- Spinach
Below is a little more detailed cool-weather crop breakdown I got from Bonnie Plants:
Cool-weather crops are broken into 2 categories – Hardy & Semi-Hardy.
Hardy – can tolerate hard frost of 25-28°F. Collards, Kale, & Spinach can handle low 20s and teens in some cases! The beautiful thing about cool weather crops is that they are more flavorful when grown under these circumstances – you know this first-hand if you’ve ever had Spinach in the garden when temps hit 90-100! 
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Collards*
- English peas
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Leeks
- Mustard greens
- Parsley
- Radish
- Spinach
- Turnip
Semi-hardy – can tolerate 29-32°F
- Beets
- Carrot
- Cauliflower
- Celery
- Chinese cabbage
- Endive
- Irish potatoes
- Lettuce and gourmet salad greens
- Radicchio
- Rutabaga
- Salsify
- Swiss chard*
*Tastes better in winter, but will grow well through summer.
Grown in 60 days
| Arugula | 30-40 days to harvest |
| Basil | 35-45 days to harvest |
| Beet | 50-65 days to harvest |
| Cabbage | 50-65 days to harvest |
|
Carrots
|
55-75 days to harvest |
| Cilantro | 60-75 days to harvest |
| Collards | 55-60 days to harvest |
|
Cucumbers
|
55-65 days to harvest |
| Garlic | 90-110 in ground all winter |
| Kale | 45-60 days to harvest |
| Kohlrabi | 55-65 days to harvest |
| Lettuce | 45-60 days to harvest |
| Leek | 85-105 in ground all winter |
| Mustard | 30-50 days to harvest |
| Green bunching onion | 55-60 days to harvest |
| Snap Peas | 55-60 days to harvest |
| Radish | 25-40 days to harvest |
| Spinach | 37-50 days to harvest |
| Swiss Chard | 50-60 days to harvest |
| Turnip | 45-60 days to harvest |
Planting a garden at the end of the summer is something I enjoy for 2 reasons:
- Watching a whole new growing process from seed-to-salad or seed-to-sandwich is my favorite process in the world. It is so amazing that 1 tiny seed can turn into a meal, or part of a meal. Growth isn’t limited to spring if you know what to plant & when to plant it.
- A whole new batch of fresh veggies! I didn’t grow much other than Tomatoes, Jalapeños, and Habaneros this year so it’ll be nice to get fresh Spinach, Lettuce, Radishes & other salad-friendly veggies back in rotation.
First Fall Frost
As is noted above, most of these crops are somewhat frost-tolerant – some vegetables will even be more flavorful after the frost! But, if you are deep into October & fear a hard frost, or even a freeze, you may want to take some precautions if you want to extend your growing season even further.
Please let me know if you have any questions about starting your garden & I’ll be happy to help!
[…] Keep in mind that this is a garden to be harvested in the Fall – you want to pick vegetables that are cold-hardy & that will be harvested before the frost (check out my cold-hardy vegetable list here!) […]
[…] Keep in mind that this is a garden to be harvested in the Fall – you want to pick vegetables that are cold-hardy & that will be harvested before the frost (check out my cold-hardy vegetable list here!) […]