What Vegetables to Plant in Fall and Winter (By Zone)

Updated November 4, 2026

Fall is the season for cool-season vegetables: leafy greens, cabbage-family crops and root crops that sweeten after a frost. Here’s which vegetables to plant in fall and winter, how much cold each one takes, the latest planting dates for USDA zones 3 to 9 counted back from your first frost, and what you can still plant in November, from university extension guides.

Jump to: The planting rule How much cold each crop takes Latest planting dates by zone Is it too late? Growing through winter Fall planting tips

How to time fall vegetables: count back from your first frost

• Start from your first fall frost. Illinois Extension: find your usual first frost date, then “count backwards for the number of days it takes the crop to mature”, and “add a week or two for the fall factor.” Look up your date with the frost dates pages or the ZIP planner.
• Add two weeks for shorter days. UMD Extension says days-to-maturity numbers “increase for fall crops due to decreasing light and lower temperatures that slow growth.” Its fix: “Calculate the proper planting date by including a SDF of two weeks (14 days).” (SDF is its short-day factor.) The factor “is especially critical for crops that produce heads or pods; less so for root and leafy crops.”
• A worked example. UMD: to start harvesting 55-day beets on October 15, subtract 55 days (August 20), then subtract 14 more: “Plant seeds around August 7.”
• Don’t plant late. UMD: “Fall crops often fail because they are planted too late.” Days to maturity count “from seeding in the garden” for lettuce, spinach, beet, radish and leafy greens, and “from transplanting” for broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts.
• Use transplants for cabbage-family crops. Illinois Extension says broccoli and cauliflower “are best done as transplants”. Texas A&M AgriLife agrees in general: “Fall crops generally do better when started from transplants than from seed.”

Which vegetables survive frost?

Cool-season crops handle cold very differently. UMD Extension: “Frosts increase the sugar content and improve the flavor of many cool-season crops”, and SDSU says root crops “develop more sugars when the soil temperature is below 40 degrees Fahrenheit”.

About this table: Groups and temperatures from SDSU Extension. Sources group a few crops differently: Illinois Extension lists lettuce as tolerating light frosts (32°F) and radishes as tolerating hard frosts (28°F), Iowa State says semi-hardy crops take “temperatures down to the upper 20s°F” and hardy crops “the mid to lower 20s°F”, and UMD lists lettuce as hardy and radish as half-hardy. Treat lettuce and radish as borderline.

Latest planting dates for fall vegetables by zone

These are the last dates to sow each crop so it matures by the typical first frost in your zone. Earlier is safer. Use the days to maturity on your own seed packet when you have it.

About this table: Our calculation, not an extension table. Frost date: median first 32°F date (50% chance), NOAA NCEI 1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, median across the ZIP codes in each USDA zone, with the 10th–90th percentile in brackets. Latest planting = frost date minus days to maturity minus 14 days (UMD Extension’s short-day factor). Days-to-maturity ranges from UMD’s planting chart. Enter your ZIP in the planner for the dates at your nearest NOAA station.

• Hardy crops can go later in mild-winter zones. The table counts back to harvest by the first frost, but hardy crops keep growing after a light frost, so southern extension calendars run later. Texas A&M AgriLife lists spinach and radish seeding as late as Dec 1 in its Region IV, which it matches to USDA zone 9A (see below).
• Zone 10: only 30% of zone 10 ZIP codes’ nearest stations record 32°F in at least half of years, so a count-back date doesn’t apply. Use the Florida and California lists below.
• Zones 3 to 5: this year’s dates have passed. Use the table to plan next August.

What vegetables can I still plant in November?

• Zones 3 to 7: garlic and shallots. The leafy and root crop dates above have passed, but UMD Extension says “garlic, shallot, and multiplier onion can be planted in October for harvest the following spring/summer.” UMD’s chart gives a fall window of Oct 15 to Nov 15 for both garlic and shallots in Maryland. For your zone, see when to plant garlic and the garlic growing guide. Bulb onions follow their own timing: see when to plant onions (fall or spring, by region and day length).
• Zone 8 and the Southeast: see November garden tasks by zone and your state calendar, such as when to plant in Georgia.
• Florida (November, UF/IFAS): North Florida can “Easily transplant: arugula, beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi, sugarcane, and Swiss chard.” and should “Use seeds: carrots, onions (bulbing, bunching), radish, and turnips.” Central and South Florida lists add lettuce and endive, and South Florida adds tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. UF/IFAS is updating its planting dates; check your county Extension office. More: when to plant in Florida.
• Southern California: UC Master Gardeners of Orange County: “With the exception of chives, cool season vegetables are best planted from nursery starts in November. Leafy vegetables and brassicas grow well now.”

Texas. Texas A&M AgriLife’s fall guide splits the state into five regions and matches them to USDA zones (Region I is zone 6, II is 7, III is 8, IV is 9A and V is 9B). In the two warmest regions, these crops still have planting dates on or after November 1:

About this table: Dates from Texas A&M AgriLife, Fall Vegetable Gardening Guide for Texas, Tables 1 to 3. In Regions I to III, Table 1’s fall dates are mostly past by November. More: when to plant in Texas.

What vegetables grow through winter?

• Overwintering greens. UMD Extension: “Fall crops that overwinter with protection and resume growth in spring include spinach, arugula, kale, mâche (corn salad), parsley, and chicories (radicchio, escarole, endive).”
• Root crops under mulch. UMD (Maryland): “Harvest beets, turnips, and carrots through December by covering the bed with an insulating mulch to prevent freeze damage to the roots.” SDSU says horseradish “can be stored in-ground overwinter with mulch”.
• Covers. UMD: “Use cold frames and row covers to nurture plant growth and provide some cold protection to extend the harvest period.” For frost nights, see how to protect plants from frost.
• Short days stop growth. UMD: “Vegetable growth is very limited when the total amount of sunlight per day drops below 10 hours. In Maryland, this is about mid-November through late January.” Plant early enough that crops are nearly grown by then.
• Go easy on fertilizer for winter greens. UMD: “Heavily-fertilized leafy greens can accumulate excessive nitrate under low-light conditions”, so use compost and organic fertilizers sparingly on protected greens you will harvest from December through February.

Fall vegetable planting tips

• Wait for cooler soil for lettuce and spinach. UMD: “Lettuce and spinach seeds are difficult to germinate when the soil temperature is above 70°F, so wait until the summer temperatures cool before planting.”
• Skip fall peas in most gardens. UMD: “Peas are difficult to grow in the fall because of high soil temperature and insufficient time for plants to produce pods prior to cold weather.”
• Prepare the bed. UMD: “Spread ½ to 1 inch of compost on top of the bed prior to planting. Keep seedbeds evenly moist”.
• Shade and moisture for seedlings. Illinois Extension suggests you “provide some shade to seedlings in the afternoon while the temperatures are still high”.
• Full sun. Texas A&M AgriLife says vegetable crops “must have at least 8 hours of direct sun each day”.

Crop by crop: broccoli · cabbage · lettuce · garlic. Month by month for your zone: zone 7, zone 8, zone 9 and the other planting calendars.

More guides

Winter cover crops by zone What flowers to plant in fall When to plant garlic First hard freeze dates Protect plants from frost November garden tasks by zone ZIP planner