What Seeds to Start in August for Your Fall Garden

August is Time to Start Seeds

I know it's still 100 degrees, but it's time to start seeds! If you start now, you'll get a good start on your fall garden and have time to plant two or three successions of crops for a winter-long harvest of cool season crops. I'm just going to give a basic run-down of what you can do now.

You can also refer to my year-round planting date chart for North Texas

Warm season crops round 2 (or 3): You can direct seed a second round of warm season crops such as bush beans, squash, zucchini, melons, corn, snap pole beans, pumpkin, and cucumbers. You can also still plant seeds or transplants of okra and peppers right now. You can harvest these crops till your first freeze.

Cole crops: Broccoli, cabbage, kale, chard, collard greens, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and more. You'll want to start these seeds mid-August indoors with your handy seed starting equipment. Seeds need supplemental light so make sure to use a good setup. Then you'll plant your first round into the garden in September. You can start a second round of seeds two weeks after the first to have another succession planting. Once your seedlings have rooted into the bottom of the seed starting cell or pellet, you'll pot them up into a 4" size pot to grow a larger root system, then after plants are rooted in, you transplant them into your garden.

Herbs: Start seeds indoors of cool season herbs like parsley, dill, and fennel. You might want to wait a bit, say until the end of the month to start cilantro, as even tiny seedlings will bolt too fast in any amount of heat. You can also plant transplants right now of many herbs like basil, oregano, sage, thyme, chives, etc. Plant bulbs of garlic starting in September. Seeds of onions (not slips, which should be planted in January) can be started indoors or in the garden in September/October.

Salad greens: You can start direct seeding salad greens into the garden in early September, depending on temperatures. If it's still in the 90s, wait until the middle of the month, then seed into the garden. Remember that lettuce seeds need light to germinate, so don't cover their seeds with soil when you plant them. Simply press them into the surface of the soil and keep moist until germination. You can also start them indoors if you want to get a head start, but they're so easy to direct seed that's usually what I do. Then you can continue seeding salad greens through late fall, and then again starting in February.

Seed starting equipment: I use the JumpStart system from Hydrofarm because the lighting is perfect for seeds, the lamp can be adjusted to different heights, and it's good for small spaces. We do sell it at NHG. You can use small trays with a seed starting soil mix, or the little compressed pellets from Jiffy. I use those a lot and they work great. Make sure you have a humidity dome (plastic cover) for your tray. If you're using pots or pellets, make sure you have a watertight seed tray to set them in so you can cover them with the dome. The picture at left is only one example of the many different options available. Sometimes you just have to experiment to find the option that works best for you. Also, a seed starting heat mat is necessary once you get into fall and winter, and you're starting seeds for spring planting.