WHAT TO PLANT IN
September

Central/Midwest Region

“Members of a local garden club visited our place one day late in September. There was hardly a square foot of garden space empty. They exclaimed, “Your garden is as green as it was in June. It looks like spring, and we are almost in October. How do you do it?” Our answer is simple: Continue planting.”

Helen and Scott Nearing, The Fall Garden

September/October 1979

To read more about what to plant in other months and regions, visit our What to Plant Now home page.

For planting times specific to your zip code, check out the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Vegetable Garden Planner. 

Top Crops for Central and Midwest Gardening:

Here are the Top Ten crops for the Midwest region, followed by other recommended crops, as rated in our National Survey of Most Productive Garden Crops. (The criteria for selection include ease of culture, efficient use of garden space and time, ease of storage and desirability at the table.) The recommended crops are sorted by plant family to help you plan rotations so that the same plant families are not grown consecutively in the same area, as much as possible.

Top 10 Crops: Central and Midwest Region

1. Slicing tomato
2. Sweet pepper
3. Cherry tomato
4. Onion
5. Bush snap bean
6. Carrot
7. Garlic
8. Paste tomato
9. Snow/snap pea
10. Lettuce

Other Highly Recommended Crops:

Cabbage family:  Broccoli, cabbage, collards, kale, kohlrabi 

Cucumber family:  Cucumber, pumpkin, summer squash, winter squash 

Leafy greens:  Arugula, chard, mustard (all types), pac choi, sorrel, spinach, turnip 

Legumes:  Dry soup beans, pole snap beans, shell peas, Southern peas

Root crops:  Beet, parsnip, potato, rutabaga, shallot, turnip 

Tomato family:  Hot peppers, tomatillo

Miscellaneous:  Asparagus, leek, okra, rhubarb, scallion, sweet corn 

VEGETABLES 

Sow Indoors   

Sow Outdoors  

Transplant 

Lettuce 

Peas  

Radish 

Spinach 

Cover Crops 

Sow Indoors   

Sow Outdoors  

Transplant 

Alfalfa 

Buckwheat