16 Vegetables You Can Plant Now for Fall Harvest

Mid to late summer is the time to start sowing your fall garden plants if you're looking to bring fresh veggies to your table by the time the cool weather arrives. Crops like broccoli, pictured, can be sown in late summer for a fall harvest. Time to maturity will vary by crop, so check seed packs or tags in seedling containers and plan backward to come up with a planting date. For some crops, you'll want to schedule your fall harvest before the first frost arrives. Broccoli, for example, is sensitive to frost and freeze (but you can cover them to protect the growing buds in the event of an early cold spell), while kale, parsnips and collards can take the freeze.

If you have a small gardening space, start thinking about how to create space for your fall garden by figuring out which of your spring and summer crops will finish first; when summer crops are ready to take out, be prepared with fall crops to replace them. Check the following great options for fall vegetables to plant now and tips on how to grow them.

Brussels sprouts love cool weather and are often grown in cool climates as a spring crop that holds in the garden through summer. In warmer climates, though, Brussels sprouts can be started in fall and grown through winter into early spring. They can take a little frost. Start from seed indoors and transplant outside when weather cools, or buy transplants at your local garden center.

Beans of all types grow quickly and can produce abundant harvests up until frost. This makes them ideal for succession planting, meaning planting at intervals throughout the growing season. You can even start beans in the heat of summer. Sow outdoors directly in the soil. If you're growing pole beans, add a trellis; if you're growing bush varieties, no trellis is needed.

Beets are an ideal fall crop. Sow seeds directly outdoors; you can pre-soak seeds to help with germination. In warmer climates especially, sow seeds in late summer under taller crops like tomatoes or peppers to provide a little shade. After the temperatures cool and you remove the tall crops, beets will thrive.