Fall Sowing Schedules: What to Plant When the Days Get Shorter

The most counterintuitive fact about cool-temperate vegetable gardening is that more crops are sown in autumn than in spring, even though the popular gardening calendar treats spring as the central planting season. Autumn-sown garlic, broad beans, winter brassicas, salads, peas, cover crops and several roots all benefit from cooler establishment temperatures and produce earlier or more reliably than their spring-sown equivalents. The autumn sowing schedule, properly executed, can extend the productive season of a temperate garden by three to four months.

This piece sets out the fall sowing schedule that has worked across the temperate zone gardens I have managed and visited — northern France, Belgium, southern Germany, the British Isles. The exact dates vary by latitude and season, but the relative sequence and the underlying principles transfer across the region.

Why autumn sowing works

Several plants establish more reliably from autumn sowings than from spring sowings. The mechanism varies by species but typically involves one or more of the following: vernalisation (a cold period required for normal growth, particularly in alliums and some brassicas), root establishment time before spring growth (giving plants a stronger start than spring-planted equivalents), avoidance of summer pest pressure during establishment, and use of cool seasons when many pests and diseases are dormant.

The most economically valuable autumn sowings are typically those that produce harvests well before spring sowings could produce equivalent yields. Garlic, broad beans, and winter onion sets all fall in this category. Other autumn sowings produce winter and early-spring harvests when the rest of the garden is bare.

The September window

Early to mid-September, in most temperate latitudes, is the prime sowing window for the largest single category of autumn crops: winter and overwintering hardy salads and leafy greens. The plants need enough time to establish substantial leaf mass before short days and cold temperatures slow their growth, but not so much that they flower (bolt) before winter dormancy.

Salads and leafy greens for winter harvest

Mâche (lamb’s lettuce, Valerianella locusta): the most cold-tolerant winter salad. Sow direct in early to mid-September; harvest from November through March.
Winter purslane (Claytonia perfoliata): cold-tolerant, distinctive heart-shaped leaves, mild flavour. Sow September; harvest December onwards.
Mizuna and mibuna: Japanese mustard greens. Cold-tolerant to about -10°C with cover. Sow early September.
Land cress (American cress): peppery flavour similar to watercress, much hardier. Sow September; harvest October through April.
Winter lettuce varieties: ‘Winter Marvel’, ‘Arctic King’, ‘Brune d’Hiver’. Sow early September; protect under cloches in deep winter.
Spinach (winter varieties): ‘Giant Winter’, ‘Bordeaux’. Sow late August through early September.
Chards and beet greens: established autumn plantings will overwinter and produce again in early spring.

Most of these grow under simple cover (cold frame, cloche, fleece) through the deepest winter weeks and produce harvest essentially every week of the year except for short freezing periods. The 2010s revival of winter salad gardening, particularly Charles Dowding’s published work in the UK and Eliot Coleman’s older books in the US, has produced reliable cultivar lists and timing guidance.

Cover crops

September is also the prime sowing window for the cover crops that protect bare soil over winter. Cover crops fix nitrogen, suppress weeds, prevent erosion, and feed the soil microbiome through living roots. The most reliable autumn cover crops are:

Field beans (Vicia faba in the small-grain form): nitrogen-fixing, cold-hardy, produce dense root systems that improve soil structure.
Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa): nitrogen-fixer, very cold-tolerant, produces substantial biomass.
Winter rye (Secale cereale): not a legume, but exceptionally cold-tolerant and produces deep root systems that break compaction.
Phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia): not winter-hardy in cold zones but produces fast growth in autumn before being killed by hard frost.
Crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum): nitrogen-fixer, moderately cold-tolerant.

The October window

October sowings include several crops that depend on cold-season establishment and late-spring or early-summer harvest. The most important:

Garlic

Garlic is one of the most rewarding autumn-sown crops in cold climates. The cloves require approximately six to eight weeks of cool soil temperatures to develop properly, and produce substantially larger bulbs from autumn sowing than from spring. October planting in most of temperate Europe produces harvest in late June or July.

Choose hardneck varieties for cold climates (‘Music’, ‘Czech Broadleaf’, ‘German Extra Hardy’), softneck varieties for warmer climates (‘Italian Late’, ‘Inchelium Red’). Plant individual cloves 5-10 cm deep, 15-20 cm apart, in well-prepared soil with substantial compost incorporation.

Overwintering onions

Onion sets planted in October — particularly Japanese overwintering varieties like ‘Senshyu’ and ‘Electric Red’ — produce bulbs ready for harvest in June or early July, several weeks ahead of spring-planted onions. The overwintering crop fills a useful gap before main-crop onions are ready.

Broad beans

Broad beans (Vicia faba in the larger seeded forms) sown in late October or early November produce earlier and often larger harvests than spring sowings. The cold-tolerant ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ is the standard variety for autumn sowing in most of temperate Europe; ‘Super Aquadulce’ and ‘The Sutton’ (a dwarf variety good for wind-exposed sites) are also reliable.

Autumn-sown broad beans produce harvest in late May or early June, several weeks ahead of spring sowings, and avoid the worst of the black bean aphid pressure that often affects spring-sown plants.

A pair of hands in soil-stained gardening gloves planting individual garlic cloves into a furrow in dark prepared soil, with a wooden dibber and a small bowl of additional cloves visible at the edge of the bed. — Garlic planted in October produces substantially larger bulbs than spring-planted equivalents.

The November window

November sowings are more limited, since soil temperatures are usually low enough to slow germination of most crops. The two main November activities are:

Late garlic and shallots

Garlic and shallots planted in early November still establish well, particularly in southern parts of the temperate zone. The window narrows as the month progresses; late November plantings risk cold damage to ungrown roots if a hard freeze arrives before establishment.

Bare-root tree planting

While not strictly sowing, the autumn bare-root planting season for fruit trees, soft fruit and ornamental trees runs from early November through late February in most of temperate Europe. Bare-root plants are typically less expensive than container-grown equivalents and establish successfully in a higher proportion of cases. The traditional advice — « plant a tree on the day Saint Catherine’s day if it is fine » (around November 25th in the French gardening tradition) — captures the timing well.

What to do with cleared beds

Beds cleared of summer crops in early autumn benefit from immediate replanting, either with autumn vegetables or with cover crops. Bare soil over winter loses nutrients to leaching, develops soil-structure problems, and supports fewer biological communities than cover-cropped soil.

The simplest practice is to maintain a « no bare soil » rule across the autumn garden. Where vegetables are not being grown, sow cover crops or apply thick organic mulch (5-10 cm of compost or leaf mould). The investment of an additional ten minutes per bed in early autumn pays substantial dividends in soil quality the following spring.

Pest and disease considerations

Autumn-sown crops generally face lower pest pressure than spring-sown equivalents, but several specific issues are worth noting. Slugs are more active in cool wet autumn weather and can damage young salad seedlings; protective barriers or beer traps may be needed. Cabbage whiteflies persist in mild autumns and can affect overwintering brassicas. Pigeons in many European urban and rural areas attack winter brassicas and salads; netting is essential in pigeon-affected areas.

The autumn-sown crops are largely free of the high-summer pest pressures (aphids, cabbage white butterflies, flea beetles) that can devastate spring sowings.

The shoulder seasons: late February and early March

The far end of the autumn-winter sowing window extends into late winter and early spring, when cold-tolerant peas, broad beans (a second sowing), and the earliest spring salads can be sown into still-cool soil. This shoulder season is sometimes considered separately from autumn sowing, but it builds on the same principles: cold-tolerant species sown into still-cool conditions, allowing roots to establish before the spring growth surge.

The full annual sowing rhythm becomes apparent only when autumn and shoulder-season sowings are integrated with the spring and summer schedule. A garden treated as a year-round operation, with sowings every month from February through November, produces substantially more food per square metre than the same garden treated as a four-month summer operation.

Latitude-specific timing adjustments

The dates in the schedule above assume a temperate northern European climate at roughly 47 to 53 degrees north — covering most of central France, the Low Countries, the British Isles and central Germany. For gardens significantly outside that range, several timing adjustments matter.

South of 45 degrees latitude (most of Italy, southern France, the Iberian peninsula), the autumn sowing window extends roughly two to three weeks later than the schedule above. September sowings move into early October; October garlic plantings extend into mid-November. The compensating factor is that winter cold pressure is lower, so the same crops survive winter with less protection. Gardens at 40 degrees latitude (most of central and southern Italy, Spain) can effectively operate as year-round vegetable gardens with minimal interruption, particularly in coastal microclimates.

North of 55 degrees latitude (Scotland, Scandinavia, the Baltic states), the autumn sowing window shrinks substantially. September sowings of winter salads should move to mid-August. Garlic plantings extend slightly later in the calendar but require greater frost protection. Many crops that overwinter reliably at 50 degrees latitude do not survive at 60 degrees without polytunnel protection. The Norwegian gardening writer Stephen Barstow has documented the practical adjustments for these northern climates extensively.

At elevation, the calendar shifts roughly one to two weeks earlier per 500 metres above sea level. A garden at 1,200 metres in the Alps may be two to three weeks earlier in its frost dates than equivalent latitude at sea level, and the autumn sowing window must be adjusted accordingly. The Italian alpine gardening tradition has well-developed conventions for these adjusted timings.

Variety selection: not all cultivars overwinter equally

Cultivar selection matters substantially for autumn-sown crops. Many varieties marketed for spring sowing do not overwinter reliably. The seed industry has developed dedicated winter and overwintering cultivars that should be sought out for autumn plantings, even when the species name is identical.

For lettuce, the difference between a summer variety and a winter variety is dramatic. ‘Salad Bowl’ and ‘Lollo Rossa’ are summer types that bolt or fail in cool weather; ‘Brune d’Hiver’, ‘Winter Density’ and ‘Arctic King’ are dedicated winter cultivars selected for cold tolerance and short-day growth. The same applies to most leafy crops, where reading the variety description rather than the species name is essential.

For peas, autumn-sown varieties include ‘Meteor’, ‘Douce Provence’ and ‘Avola’ — all early and cold-tolerant. Most main-crop peas do not survive autumn sowing reliably. For broad beans, ‘Aquadulce Claudia’ is the standard autumn-sowing variety; spring-only varieties like ‘Witkiem Manita’ do not overwinter dependably. For onions, the Japanese overwintering varieties ‘Senshyu’, ‘Toughball’ and ‘Electric Red’ are essential; spring-sown varieties planted in autumn typically bolt in spring before producing usable bulbs.

The single most useful resource for variety selection is the British seed company catalogues — particularly the Real Seed Catalogue, Vital Seeds and Tamar Organics — which include detailed sowing-window guidance per variety. The French equivalent is the Kokopelli seed library and the Vilmorin specialist range. The German gardener’s standard reference is the Bingenheimer seed catalogue.

Misconceptions about autumn sowing

Several persistent misconceptions distort how autumn sowing is approached. The first is that autumn-sown crops are simply substitutes for spring-sown ones. They are not, in most cases. Garlic and overwintering onions in particular produce different harvests at different times than their spring-sown equivalents and complement rather than replace them.

The second misconception is that autumn sowing requires significant cold-frame or greenhouse infrastructure. Most autumn sowings work well in open soil with simple cover (fleece, cloches, straw mulch) during the coldest weeks. Substantial infrastructure is helpful but not essential for the core autumn schedule.

The third misconception is that autumn-sown crops are inherently « low yield. » Per square metre per harvest event, the yields are often lower than peak summer crops, but the harvests come in seasons when the rest of the garden is empty, which makes the marginal value of each kilogram substantially higher. A kilogram of mâche harvested in February has more household value than a kilogram of summer lettuce, simply because the alternative is buying it at supermarket prices in winter.

The fourth misconception is that autumn sowing is incompatible with no-dig gardening. The opposite is true: no-dig beds preserve the soil structure that autumn sowings benefit from, and the surface-applied compost characteristic of no-dig systems provides ideal seedbed conditions for late-season sowings.

Implementation: a sample autumn schedule

For readers planning their first proper autumn sowing schedule, the calendar below covers a typical 50-square-metre vegetable garden in temperate northern Europe.

Late August: clear summer crops, prepare beds. Spent peas, beans, courgettes and lettuce removed; beds top-dressed with compost; sowing layout planned.
Early September: salads and brassicas. Mâche, winter purslane, mizuna and winter lettuce sown in two beds. Overwintering kale and chard transplants set out from a late summer indoor sowing.
Mid-September: cover crops in unused beds. Field beans, hairy vetch and winter rye sown in any bed not destined for autumn vegetables.
Late September: spring bulbs interplanted. Snowdrops, miniature daffodils and tulips planted in flower borders for spring colour.
Early October: garlic and shallots. Garlic cloves planted in well-prepared bed, 5 to 10 cm deep, 15 cm apart. Shallot bulbs planted at similar spacing.
Mid-October: overwintering onions. Japanese overwintering onion sets planted in a separate bed.
Late October to early November: broad beans. Aquadulce Claudia broad beans sown 5 cm deep, 20 cm apart.
November: bare-root tree and shrub planting. Soft fruit (currants, gooseberries, raspberries) and any new fruit trees planted into prepared positions.
December to January: dormant season. Light protection for marginal crops; periodic harvesting of established winter crops; planning the spring schedule.
Late January to February: indoor sowing begins. Onion seeds (for transplant), early salads, peas under cloches in mild gardens. The annual cycle restarts.

Variety-specific sourcing recommendations

For gardeners wanting reliable cultivar sources for autumn sowings, several specific suppliers have built strong reputations for the relevant varieties. In the United Kingdom, the Real Seed Catalogue, Tamar Organics, and Vital Seeds all maintain dedicated winter and overwintering selections with detailed sowing-window guidance. The French Kokopelli seed library has a substantial catalogue of overwintering vegetables, particularly for the broader Mediterranean and continental climates. The Italian Bavicchi catalogue specialises in heritage Italian varieties suited to the broader European climate.

For garlic specifically, several specialist suppliers focus exclusively on this category. The Garlic Farm in the United Kingdom offers extensive cultivar selection across both hardneck and softneck varieties. The Italian L’Aglio di Voghiera consortium supplies the regional white garlic of the Po valley. The French L’Aillade catalogue specialises in the various French regional garlic traditions including the famous Lautrec rose garlic.

For cover crops, several specialist suppliers have substantially better selection and lower prices than mainstream gardening retailers. The British Cotswold Seeds and the German Hild Samen catalogues offer extensive cover crop selection at agricultural rather than retail prices. For smaller quantities suited to home garden use, the various specialist seed cooperatives (Real Seed Catalogue, Bingenheimer in Germany, Kokopelli in France) offer reasonable cover crop selection in smaller packets.