Exploring the Best Fall Vegetables to Plant in Texas
As the scorching Texas summer starts to fade away, it’s time to embrace the vibrant colors and flavors of fall in your own backyard. Texas gardeners, get ready to dig in because this guide will help you create a bountiful garden filled with the best fall vegetables to plant in the Lone Star State. With our expert tips and recommendations, you’ll discover a variety of vegetables that thrive in Texas’ unique climate and soil conditions. From hearty root vegetables like carrots and radishes to leafy greens like kale and spinach, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
Whether you’re an experienced gardener or just starting out, this guide will provide you with all the information you need to cultivate a successful autumn harvest. So grab your gardening gloves and prepare to get your hands dirty as we explore the best fall vegetables to plant in Texas. With a little care and attention, your garden will transform into a cornucopia of delicious and nutritious produce that you can enjoy throughout the season. Get ready to experience the joy of growing your own food and the satisfaction of tasting the fruits of your labor. Let’s get gardening!
Successive planting is a great way to get multiple harvests from a crop. This means that you can stagger the planting days of a crop to get more out of your growing season. Every week during a plants growing season you will plant some seeds or plants. When it comes time to harvest them the plants will be ready a little at a time. This is perfect for fall season gardening. Look at planting these plants sometime in September, October, and November.
Must Have Fall Vegetables to Plant
Cool Season Leafy Greens
- Collards- Collards is one of the best leafy green fall vegetables for Texas. Collards have a long growing season. Collard transplants (small plants) can be started in early September. If it is too hot wait a couple of weeks before getting these in the ground. You can plant collards into early November with a marginal planting time well into mid-January. Collards have a second small planting time which is mid-January into late Feburary. Best Varieties Include: Champion, Vates, Blue Max, Flash, and Georgia Southern.
- Swiss Chard- Swiss Chard has a short fall growing season. Sometimes, you can get Swiss Chard to grow throughout the fall, winter, and deep into spring. The fall growing times for Swiss Chard are from mid-September to mid- or late October. They can then be planted again in late January through March. Best Varieties Include: Fordhook Giant, Fordhook, Ruby, Rhubarb Red, and my personal favorite- Bright Lights.
- Kale- Kale is somewhat peculiar in that it will taste bitter if the fall and winter weather is too warm. It grows and tastes better in cooler weather. Kale transplants can be grown from September to early November. You will have a marginal window of planting time, if temperatures permit, to plant until January before the spring planting season in mid-January to late February. This is one of those plants that you can get a continued harvest for several months. Best Varieties Include: Dwarf Blue Curled, Vates, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Winterbor, Lacinato, Red Russian, Green Curled, and Dwarf Siberian.
- Mustard Greens- Your optimal time to plant Mustard Greens is from mid-September until November. You can even plant some successive crops until late November if the temperatures don’t freeze. You will have another chance in the spring to plant from mid-February to mid-March, but, this is a very short time frame. This is another plant that will have a bitter taste if the temperatures get too warm. You will get a continuous crop if you harvest the leaves from the outside first. Best Varieties Include: Scarlet Frills, Tender Green, Greenwave, Savannah, Large Smooth Leaf, Spicy Green, Dragons Tongue, Southern Giant Curled, Miz America, Florida Broadleaf, and Suehihung.
- Leeks- Leek seeds can be planted in the fall from mid-September to late October. Furthermore, you can plant them again in the spring through transplants from early-January until March. Best Varieties Include: Lancelot, King Richard, and American Flag.
- Spinach- Your best times to plant spinach are from October to late November. You can try to continue to plant them for continued harvest, as long as, the temperatures don’t freeze through January. You will be able to plant spinach seeds again in mid-January until mid-February. Best Varieties Include: Red Stem Malabar, New Zealand Spinach, Bloomsdale, Palco, Melody, Space, and Tyee.
- Lettuce- Lettuce is one of the best fall vegetables you can grow in Texas. Lettuce has a long growing season in the south, as long as it is cool. However, lettuce does not do well in warmer temperatures and will taste bitter if it is too warm. You can grow lettuce beginning mid-October through late November and possibly into December for a continued harvest. There are several different types of lettuce that can be grown in the south. You can best grow Bibb, Romaine, and Looseleaf/Red Leaf Lettuce in the south. Best Varieties Include:
| Bibb/Butterhead | Romaine | Looseleaf |
| Buttercrunch | Great Caeser | Vulcan |
| Esmeralda | Green Forest | Red Sails |
| Tom Thumb | Flashy Butter Gem | Redina |
| Big Boston | Plato II | Red Fire |
| Defender | Freckles |
Cole Crops: Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower
- Broccoli (plants)– Broccoli plants can be transplanted into the garden starting in mid-September through mid-October. Temperatures will determine if you can plant all the way until January and then plant again during mid-January until Late February. Best Varieties Include: Arcadia, Apollo, Green Comet, Green Magic, Calabrese, Packman, Southern Comet, Gypsy, Waltham 29, and Premium Crop.
- Brussel Sprouts- Brussel Sprouts have the same growing timeline as Broccoli. You can plant Brussel sprouts during mid-September through mid-October. If the weather is mild, you can plant Brussel sprouts from October until January. In addition, you will have a marginal window to plant again for an early spring crop mid-January from late February. Best Varieties Include: Jade Cross, Diablo, Tasty Nugget, and Long Island Improved.
- Cabbage- Cabbage has a short window of planting time in the fall. You can plant cabbage from mid-September to mid-October. When planting cabbage try to plant for continued harvest through mid-January. However, you may have a few plants that get frost damaged if it freezes. You can continue an early spring planting starting mid-January to late Feburary. Best Varieties Include: Savoy King, Green Boy, Bravo, Early Jersey Wakefield, Sombrero, Ruby Ball, Ruby Perfection, Point One, Market Prize, and Rio Verde.
- Cauliflower- Cauliflower has a very short planting season. You can plant transplants from mid-September to mid-October. In addition to this short season, you can try to get more transplants in the ground from mid-October to mid-January. However, you will need to protect them from frost. You will have another chance to grow cauliflower in late January to late February and possibly into March, weather determinate. Best Varieties Include: Cheddar (Bright Orange Variety), Snow Queen, Snow Ball, Violet Queen (Purple Variety), Imperial, Graffitti (Deep Purple Variety), Snow Crown, Majestic, and Violet Queen.
Fall Root Vegetables For Texas
- Beets- You can plant seeds and transplants of beets starting late September and go until the end of October. Best Varieties Include: Pacemaker II, Pacemaker III, Ruby Queen, Detroit Dark Red, and Chioggia.
- Carrots– Carrots are another one of the best fall vegetables to grow in Texas. Mid-October is the best time to start planting carrots. You can plant carrots until late November. You can then plant carrots again until late January when the temperatures are somewhat mild. Carrots have a second short growing season from late January to mid-February. Best Varieties Include: Scarlet Nantes, Imperator 58, Bambino, Bolero, Little Finger, Sugar Snax 54, Thumbelina, Romance, Little Finger, Lunar White, Mokum Purple Haze, Royal Chantenay, and Nantes Half Long. Want to learn more about growing carrots? Check out my post on growing carrots.
- Garlic– Here is another one of the best fall vegetables for Texas. For us, garlic has a long fall growing season. You can begin planting garlic from mid-September all the way until mid- and even late November. Unfortunately, this is the only time of year you can plant it in the south. It does not have a spring planting season. There are two types of garlic: softneck and hardneck. Softnecks store longer and work very well in warmer climates. Hardnecks do grow bigger bulbs and claim to be easier to peel. Best Varieties Include: Softneck– French Mild Silverskin, California Early, California White. Hardneck: Elephant, Mexican Purple.
- Onions- There are two different types of ways that onions grow. Onions are either bunching or bulbing. Your best time to plant bunching onions is early October to mid-November, possibly to early December. Your best time to plant bulbing onions is by seeds from late September to late October. Bulbing onions can be planted again with transplants from early January to mid-February. Best Varieties Include: Bunching- Southport White, Evergreen Long White, and Beltsville Bunching. Bulbing- Crystal White, Ringmaster, Grano 1015Y, Burgandy, Grano 502, Yellow Texas Supersweet 1015, Candy Superstar, Yula, and Eclipe.
- Radish- In the south, Radish have a fairly long planting season. You can plant radishes from mid-September to late November and possibly into December and January. You will have another opportunity to plant Radish from February into mid-March. Best Varieties Include: Easter Egg, White Icicle, Pink Beauty, French Beauty, Cherry Belle, Summer Cross, French Breakfast, Purple Plum, and Watermelon.
- Turnips- Turnips are special since you can eat both the tops and bottoms of this vegetable. The best times to plant turnips is from mid- to late September to late October. You will get another opportunity in month of February to plant turnips. Best Varieties Include: Tokyo Cross, White Lady, Royal Globe, Shogoin, and Purple Top White Globe.
