Plant These Late-Summer Seeds for a Fall Harvest

You totally still have time

August hits and most people are already mentally checked out of the garden. That’s when you’ve got a real advantage. While everyone else thinks it’s too late, you and your kids can be tucking in a whole new crop of vegetables—and even a few flowers—that thrive in the cooling days ahead. The best part? A lot of these grow fast enough that you’ll actually get a harvest in a matter of weeks instead of months, and some can keep producing even after light frosts arrive.

The key is timing. Start with your area’s average first frost date (the Farmer’s Almanac is a trusty source), then check the days to maturity on your seed packet and work backward. Give yourself a little extra wiggle room, too: Plants grow slower as the days get shorter in fall. And remember that an average first frost date is just that—an average, not a guarantee.

Leafy Greens That Kids Actually Eat

Lettuce, spinach, and kale are your friends right now. These are cool-season crops, so the milder temperatures of late summer and early fall suit them much better than the heat of midsummer, when some greens are prone to bolting.

The fun part for kids is that you don’t necessarily have to wait for one big harvest. With leaf lettuce and kale, you can pick the outer leaves and let the plant keep growing. Other greens can be harvested young for baby leaves or allowed to mature. Either way, it feels less like “waiting” and more like “constant snacking from the garden.” Which is the whole point.

Try ‘Oakleaf’ or ‘Buttercrunch’ lettuce if you want something approachable, but check the seed packet for the variety’s specific days to maturity. For something a little more interesting, ‘Lacinato’ kale—also called dinosaur kale—has long, deeply textured leaves and a name kids can get behind. ‘Bloomsdale’ spinach is a classic choice, while quick-growing Asian greens such as bok choy are another good option for a fall garden.

Peas for Snacking

If your kids haven’t discovered that peas straight off the vine taste nothing like frozen peas from a bag, this is your moment. Late summer is actually a good time to plant them—they’re cool-season crops and will grow through the cooling fall months, producing right up until frost.

Sugar snap peas are the obvious choice for kids because you eat the whole pod and they’re naturally sweet. Snow peas are another good option if anyone at your house likes stir-fries. Both need roughly 60 days to maturity, so check your first frost date and your seed packet carefully to see if you have enough growing season left. ‘Oregon Sugar Pod’ and ‘Sugar Ann’ are varieties worth looking for, but there are many reliable options.

Just soak the seeds for an hour or two before planting—it helps them germinate faster. And give them something to climb on. A tomato cage works, a trellis works, even a stick works. 

Root Vegetables That Beat the Clock

Radishes are genuinely one of the easiest wins you can get in a garden. Some varieties are ready to harvest in roughly a month, so depending on your climate, you may even have time for more than one sowing before cold weather settles in.

‘Early Scarlet Globe’ and ‘French Breakfast’ are classics for a reason. Watermelon radishes are the kind of weird and wonderful choice kids remember, with pale greenish-white skin and a vivid pink interior. Just know that they’re winter radishes and generally need more growing time than quick spring radishes, so check the seed packet before planting.

Carrots need a longer runway—often around two months or more, depending on the variety—so they’re a better bet where enough growing season remains. Rather than relying on your first frost date alone, check your local Extension planting calendar and the variety’s days to maturity. In colder climates, August may already be too late for a full-size fall crop.

If you do have time, the payoff can be worth it. Carrots exposed to cool temperatures can develop a sweeter flavor as the plants accumulate sugars. ‘Nantes’ and ‘Danvers’ types are longtime garden favorites, but choose a variety that fits the time you have left.

Quick Flowers (Because There’s Always Room for Flowers)

You may still be able to squeeze in a few blooms—but your options depend a lot on your climate.

Zinnias grow quickly and can keep blooming until frost, especially if you deadhead the spent flowers. They’re frost-tender, though, so an August sowing is a much safer bet in areas with a long, warm fall than in colder northern climates.

Calendula, also called pot marigold, is better suited to cool weather and can be another fun option where there’s enough time for plants to establish and bloom.

And if you’ve got an empty patch of soil, consider common buckwheat. It’s often grown as a quick cover crop, produces small flowers that attract pollinators and beneficial insects, and gives kids something different to watch grow. Just don’t confuse planting seed with hulled buckwheat sold for eating, and keep in mind that buckwheat is frost-sensitive.

The Honest Timeline

There’s no one August planting deadline that works everywhere. An early-August garden in Minnesota is working with a very different timeline than one in Georgia.

Instead, look at three things: your average first frost date, the crop’s days to maturity, and how much cold it can tolerate. Remember to build in some extra growing time for shortening fall days, too.

If you’re getting close to your first frost, focus on fast-growing, cold-tolerant crops such as radishes, lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens. If you’ve got a longer fall ahead, you can experiment with crops that need more time. And because kale, carrots, spinach, lettuce, and radishes can tolerate at least some cold, the first light frost doesn’t necessarily mean your fall garden is finished.

The real magic of fall planting isn’t the harvest, though that’s nice. It’s watching your kids realize that you don’t get just one garden season a year. In many places, you can plant again as summer winds down and watch an entirely different group of crops take off.

And it’s definitely easier to care for a garden when the heat isn’t sending you back to the AC every time you step outside.

So check your frost date, grab some seeds, water the bed, and get planting. Your garden may have a lot more season left than you think.