10 Vegetables To Plant In The Fall For Early Spring Harvest

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Want to get a jump on next year’s garden before this one is even put to bed? These cold-hardy vegetables to plant in the fall will sit tight over the winter and give you an early spring harvest.

Fall is usually thought of as harvest time, and for good reason. The pears are ready for canning. The apple trees are loaded, just waiting to be turned into apple butter and applesauce for the winter.

But fall isn’t just for harvesting and preserving. It’s also a great time to plant.

No, I don’t mean a fall vegetable garden, although that’s a wonderful way to stretch out your harvest. I mean planting vegetables later in the fall, by transplant, bulb, or seed. They overwinter in your garden and start giving you food as soon as spring arrives.

A Quick Look At What To Plant In The Fall For Spring

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• Why fall is a great time to plant for next spring.
• How to plant seedlings in the fall so they root in before winter.
• When to direct sow seeds so they wait until spring to sprout.
• The 10 best cold-hardy vegetables to plant in the fall, and how to plant each one.
• How to protect your fall plantings in cold growing zones.

Planting Seedlings In The Fall

Many of the crops you plant in the fall won’t be ready to eat until spring. They’re still worth planting now.

If you’re planting seedlings, get them in early in the fall while the soil is still warm. Warm soil helps them root and settle quickly.

Add some simple frost protection, and you can enjoy a fall harvest from many of these vegetables. Then you get another early harvest next spring too.

Direct Sowing Vegetables To Grow Over Winter

If you live in a cold growing zone and you’re planting seeds to overwinter, wait as long as you can.

You do want the seeds in before the ground freezes. But when you wait until the soil is cooler, the seeds are less likely to sprout in the fall. That’s what you want. They’ll stay put until spring, just like seeds do in nature.

For the same reason, don’t water newly planted seeds. Keep the garden as dry as you can so they don’t germinate until spring.

Vegetables To Plant In The Fall For Spring Harvest

1. Potatoes

Planting potatoes in the fall is a great way to get a head start on next year’s harvest.

Potatoes are root vegetables, so they’re made to overwinter in the ground. As soon as the soil warms up enough in the spring, they start growing.

2. Garlic

Garlic is worth growing in every garden. Once you taste homegrown garlic, you’ll never want to go back. The flavor is simply amazing.

If you grow hardneck garlic, you need to plant it in the fall. It needs at least a few weeks of cold weather to sprout and grow properly.

Softneck garlic can be planted in the spring. But even softneck garlic grows faster and is ready to harvest sooner when you plant it in the fall.

Here’s my guide to planting garlic in the fall.

3. Spinach

Spinach is a leafy green that loves cool weather.

It’s hard to grow once the summer heat hits. So planting spinach in the fall gives you a nice long harvest before that happens.

There are two ways to do it. You can plant in late summer, get a fall harvest, and then let the plants overwinter. Or you can direct seed in the late fall.

Here’s how to grow spinach in the fall.

4. Onions And Shallots

Years ago, an elderly farmer told us that onions and potatoes were great to plant in the fall. He was right!

Onions and shallots are very hardy. The cold really doesn’t bother them much at all.

When you plant onion sets in the fall, they have time to root in and get off to an early start in the spring.

One thing to watch for: fall planted onions are more likely to go to seed in their second year. So plant them as late as you can, just like you would garlic. Also try to grow varieties that are developed for overwintering, like Walla Walla or Bridger, they are more resistant to bolting.

5. Spring Onions

Spring onions (green onions) are a must-have in every garden. They’re so handy in the kitchen.

Plant them in the early fall. They’ll die back over the winter, but the roots survive. Come spring, they start growing fresh green leaves quickly.

Just snip off what you need, and they’ll keep growing more.

6. Carrots

Carrots grown in cool weather are extra sweet. (Hot weather is one of the reasons carrots taste bitter.)

If you want an early harvest of fresh carrots in the spring, direct seed some in the late fall.

As soon as the soil warms up enough in the spring, they’ll germinate and start growing. That’s often before you can even work the ground.

Learn more about how to grow carrots.

7. Turnips

Turnips are another great choice to direct seed in the fall.

Plant the seeds in the late fall, and they’ll stay dormant until the soil warms up in the spring. You’ll get early turnip greens and a quick harvest of turnip roots too.

8. Broad Beans

Broad beans are a cold-hardy bean that’s perfect for spring or fall gardens.

If you live in a mild growing zone, you can overwinter many varieties. But if your winters are hard, try a hardier variety like Aquadulce Claudia and cover them with good row covers or a cold frame to keep them from freezing.

9. Asparagus

Asparagus is a perennial vegetable. It takes at least two years of growth before you can start harvesting.

But it’s so worth the wait for sweet, tender asparagus right from your garden.

If you can get asparagus crowns, plant them in the fall to get a head start. Here’s how to grow asparagus.

10. Kale

Kale is a tasty green that’s very cold-hardy.

Just like spinach, you can let your kale plants overwinter in the garden. They’ll start growing fresh leaves in the spring. This works great even in our cold zone 5 garden. They will eventually flower and go to seed, but by that time your spring-planted kale will be producing.

Keep it covered over the winter, and you can keep picking fresh leaves even in harsh growing zones.

You can also direct-sow kale in the fall. It’ll start growing as soon as the soil warms up in the spring.

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