Best Vegetables for Containers in Late Summer and Fall

Many gardeners can still sow all sorts of tasty produce now—even this late in the season. Some vegetables are far more flavorful and successful in fall than in spring, such as spinach, which loves cold weather.

You can’t go wrong with leafy salads, which will grow into fall. They will be far less likely to bolt in the late summer and fall months. Also, you can plant beets and many roots for a late fall and early winter harvest. With beets, the greens are very tasty, too, similar to spinach! 

There are some vegetables that are cold-hardy and don’t mind frost, such as kale.

Best Vegetables for Fall Container Gardening

Here is a full list of quick-growing vegetables. Just go to the garden store, look at some seed packets, and back out the number of weeks from your first fall frost date, plus a few weeks for harvesting! Many of these vegetables need 6 to 8 weeks before the first fall frost. Look for faster-producing varieties as well as dwarf varieties, which are perfect for containers.

See our Fall Planting Calendar.

1. Spinach
2. Collards
3. Bush Beans—Dwarf borlotti beans are a fave!
4. Radishes
5. Daikon (type of radish)
6. Beets/beetroot
7. Turnips
8. Carrots
9. Spring onions—plant from onion sets
10. Pea shoots
11. Lettuce
12. Endive
13. Arugula/rocket
14. Mustard greens
15. Cilantro/coriander
16. Swiss chard

Related: Find the perfect pot size with our vegetable pot size calculator.

See How to Grow in Containers!

Ben shows how to grow these vegetables in pots—and just how much you can harvest from a small container garden. Spoiler alert: it’s A LOT! 

If you have never gardened in containers, find out how to pick pots and what soil to use in our beginner guide to container gardening.