I’ve got enough tomatoes on three plants to supply the town I live in. But, I’m looking forward to a Fall crop of “something” but I don’t know what.
Any suggestions—maybe onions, peppers or anything that will grow in the Fall.
I you have room, plat some hard neck garlic cloves.
They’ll grow slowly all winter and send up tops in the spring that will be your first fresh veggie of the season.
I just put in spinach, lettuce and peas a couple weeks ago and they’re up. 2nd crop of each. Also Basil and going to put some purple carrot seeds down today.
Figure out how many days you have left in your growing season.
Count backwards from your usual first hard freeze date (for example, mine is usually October 15th in SW Wisconsin Zone 4/5) and you can grow anything that fits that time frame between today and that freeze date. Of course you can extend that time frame a bit by using row covers, a cold frame or even covering items with plastic over night to keep the cold air off.
As of today, I’ve got about 60 days left to grow things outside, but I am putting some tomato seedlings in the greenhouse and will dig up and pot some pepper plants, just to see if I can keep them producing under cover. (Unheated.)
For Fall crops I’ll plant Garlic (waiting for it to arrive!) lettuces, spinach, beets, radishes, green onions and maybe carrots - I never have good luck with carrots, but I keep trying!
Books I’d recommend:
‘Four Season Harvest’ by Elliot Coleman (I’ve met him - he’s DREAMY, LOL!) (He gardens in Maine)
‘The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener’ - Niki Jabbour (She gardens in Canada)
‘Building and Using Cold Frames’ (Pamphlet) - Garden Way Publishing
Beets and radishes grow fast enough you can harvest them in the fall if you plant them now.
If you want something that can be planted now and will overwinter, there are several options. For grains, winter wheat and winter rye would work. Or, plant garlic and harvest it next August.