What to grow in an autumn vegetable garden
The sun angle is dropping and days are shortening, but the cooler air and lower light bring back many of the crops that bolted or struggled in the height of summer.
When is autumn, where you are
In the northern hemisphere, autumn (fall) runs roughly September to November. In the southern hemisphere, roughly March to May. Either way, it is the season where the sun's path is visibly lower than it was a few months earlier, and shadows are visibly longer.
What to plant, and how much sun it needs
| Vegetable | Sun needed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Garlic | 6 hours + | Long season — plant now for a harvest next summer. |
| Broad beans (fava beans, for overwintering) | 4 – 6 hours | Handles a shadier spot better than most summer crops would. |
| Peas (second sowing, in mild climates) | 4 – 6 hours | Cooler air suits them again, the same as spring. |
| Lettuce & salad greens | 4 – 6 hours | Much less bolting risk than a spring or summer sowing. |
| Spinach & silverbeet (chard) | 4 – 6 hours | Reliable through into winter in mild climates. |
| Brassicas for winter harvest (cabbage, kale, broccoli) | 6 hours + | Tolerates part sun. Growth slows in lower light, but the cool suits them. |
| Carrots, beetroot, turnips & radish | 6 hours + | Tolerates part sun; still want decent light even as days shorten. |
| Onions (autumn-planted varieties) | 6 hours + | Check your variety's planting window — not all onions suit an autumn start. |
Sun needs are a general guide. Your climate, variety and soil all matter too — this is where to start, not the whole answer.
The shade that creeps back
As the sun angle drops through autumn, the same fence, tree or house casts a noticeably longer shadow than it did in summer — a bed that had plenty of sun in the middle of the year can lose real hours by the time an autumn crop is actually growing in it. This is exactly the seasonal shift the planner is built to show. It is worth re-checking a bed at the point on the year slider that matches when you are actually planting, rather than assuming a summer reading still holds.