At a Glance: What to Do for Your Virginia Garden in September
- Fall in Central Virginia is warm and long, making September a second chance for planting.
- Good September crops for zone 7b include greens like lettuce, spinach, and kale, as well as turnips and radishes.
- Order garlic in September to plant in October. It will grow next year.
- If a bed is done for the season, plant a cover crop or lay cardboard on top to reduce weed growth for the winter.
- Prepare for winter by taking notes on your garden, doing a soil pH test, and removing weeds or diseased plants.
Every September I have the same conversation with myself in the driveway. The tomatoes look tired, the squash has given up entirely, and some part of my brain has already filed the garden under finished.
Then I remember that in Charlottesville, September isn’t the end of anything. It’s a second planting season. And honestly, it’s a gentler one than spring.
Why Virginia Gardeners Can Keep Going in September
That’s the thing nobody tells you when you start gardening in Central Virginia. Our falls are long. The soil is still warm enough to germinate seed. The afternoons have stopped being punishingly hot, and most of the insects that made July miserable have moved on.
Piedmont Master Gardeners, the volunteer educators who work through Virginia Cooperative Extension here in Charlottesville and Albemarle County, treat August and September as harvest season and October as the turning point. That leaves us a real window, and it’s open right now. I once had tomatoes to pick at Halloween from straggling plants at the same time I was cutting fall lettuces!
What You Can Plant in September in Virginia
Cool-season crops are the whole story in September. Virginia Cooperative Extension’s guidance on fall gardening covers the full list, but the ones that work reliably for families are the fast, forgiving ones.
Fall crops to direct sow into the garden:
- Lettuce
- Spinach
- Kale
- Collards
- Mustard
- Turnips
- Radishes
Gardening with kids? Radishes are the one I’d hand to a five-year-old. They come up in a few days and are ready to pull in under a month, which is roughly the attention span you’re working with.
Fall crops to set out as transplants:
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Napa cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Brussels sprouts
Extension notes these generally go in as transplants in August, so September plantings are on the late side. If you find healthy starts at a local garden center, they’re worth a try. If not, let it go and lean on the direct-sown greens instead.
Practical tips for September sowing:
The soil is warm and often dry. Extension advises that dry mid-summer soils may need seed sown deeper than usual, up to twice the normal depth. Water the furrow before you sow rather than after, and keep it damp until things come up.
Plan Ahead for Garlic in October
This is the September job that most people miss. Garlic goes in the ground in mid-October in our area, according to Piedmont Master Gardeners. But the varieties sell out well before then. PMG specifically warns that retailers often exhaust their most popular stock before October arrives.
So September is the month to order garlic. Central Virginia sits in a transition zone where both hardneck and softneck varieties do reasonably well. This is a genuine advantage over gardeners further north or south.
Order now, plant in four weeks, and you’ll be pulling bulbs next summer.
If you’ve never grown garlic, start with it. It’s the easiest thing in my garden by a wide margin, mostly because the deer, rabbits and groundhogs want nothing to do with it.
Kid-Friendly September Garden Project: Forcing Bulbs
If you want something that pays off in the dead of winter, September is when you start forcing bulbs indoors. Piedmont Master Gardeners offer a rough schedule: plan on roughly three months from planting to bloom.
- Bulbs planted in mid-September tend to flower around late December.
- Mid-October plantings bloom in February.
- Mid-November plantings show up in March or April.
This is a satisfying project with children because the waiting is built in and visible. We walked through the whole process in our guide to creating a forced bulb garden at home. As a bonus, it’s one of the few garden activities that works entirely indoors on a rainy weekend.
September Gardening Chore: Cover Crops
If a bed has finished producing and you don’t plan to plant it again this fall, consider a cover crop instead of leaving bare soil through winter. Extension’s guidance is that winter cover crops can go in as early as August 1 and no later than November 1, since they need some growth before hard frost sets in.
The case for it is straightforward. Cover crops cut erosion over the winter, add organic matter when you turn them under in spring, and improve the structure of soil. If you garden in Piedmont clay, which most of us do, that last part is not a small thing.
Popular cover crops for Virginia gardens:
- Crimson clover adds nitrogen to soil.
- Winter rye, also known as cereal rye, improves soil structure and water movement.
- Oats increase earthworm activity and break down easily with spring raking.
Pro tip: Planting cover crops isn’t the only option for winter beds. Sometimes I put the garden to bed by layering on some cardboard and walking away. Sometimes I’ll even leave it for a full year. Covering the garden bed thoroughly keeps weeds down and lets you take a break in that spot.
Other September Gardening Tasks: The Unglamorous Jobs
These are the tasks that make March easier, and only they take about an hour each.
- Walk the garden and take notes on what worked. Which tomato variety actually produced? What did the squash bugs destroy? Where did you run out of room? Each year is a chance to gather more knowledge about your individual garden’s needs.
- Create a garden sketch. This helps you remember where things were planted so you can rotate crops next spring. Piedmont Master Gardeners recommend exactly this, and I have never once regretted the fifteen minutes.
- Keep weeding. Weeds going to seed now become next spring’s problem.
- Pull diseased plants. Get them out of the garden entirely rather than composting them. Healthy plant material composts fine, butanything with disease should go in the trash.
- Remove raspberry or blackberry canes. If you have these berries in your garden, remove the two-year-old cane. This will reduce the chances of disease carrying over the winter.
September Gardening Tip: Do a Soil Test
Testing the pH of your soil in fall gives you the winter to make adjustments before the spring planting season. Soils in Charlottesville tend to run acidic, and there’s no way to know what yours needs without testing.
Your local Virginia Cooperative Extension office will provide free soil test kits. The Albemarle County and Charlottesville Extension office can be reached at 434-872-4580.
Where to Find Plants and Seed Near Charlottesville
Local garden centers are a home gardener’s best friend! They will have stock suited specifically to Central Virginia’s climate and conditions, rather than a national planting schedule. The staff also will be able to tell you honestly what’s too late to plant.
The area’s local Saturday markets are worth a stop too. You can buy starts, and you can also talk to the gardeners standing behind the tables. These local experts will happily tell you what’s working in their beds this year.
To find the nearest market, check out our guide to farmers markets and farmstands in Charlottesville and Albemarle.
Frequently Asked Questions: September Gardening in Zone 7b
Is September too late to plant a garden in Central Virginia?
Not at all! September is prime time for cool-season crops in Central Virginia. Lettuce, spinach, kale, collards, mustard, turnips, and radishes can all be direct sown this month. Virginia’s long, mild falls give them plenty of time to mature before hard frost arrives.
What growing zone is Charlottesville in?
Charlottesville and the surrounding Piedmont sit in USDA hardiness Zone 7b. That matters because planting calendars written for other zones will steer you wrong, particularly on fall timing.
When should I plant garlic in Central Virginia?
Mid-October is the best time to plan garlic in the Charlottesville area, according to Piedmont Master Gardeners. Be sure to order or buy your garlic in September, since popular varieties often sell out before planting season arrives.
What can I plant with kids in September?
Radishes are the clear winner because they germinate within days and are ready to harvest in under a month. My kids never liked how they tasted but were proud to feed them to our bunnies and goats! Cut in half vertically, brush on some acrylic paint and radishes make a pretty print too. Lettuce and spinach are also quick and easy to handle. For an indoor option, forced bulbs started in September will bloom around the holidays.
What should I do for a garden in Central Virginia before winter arrives?
A few simple chores will help prepare your garden for winter and set you up for success in the spring.
- Pull diseased plants and dispose of them away from the compost pile.
- Keep weeding so nothing goes to seed.
- Take notes on what worked this year so you’ll be ready for next year.
- Consider a cover crop on any bed you’re finished with for the season.
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JENNIFER BRYERTON, M.Ed., our Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, started her career in teaching, co-founded CharlottesvilleFamily, and is a mom of four. A believer in experiential education and an avid gardener, beehives, a fruit and veggie plot, perennial borders and a chicken coop dot the family lawn west of Charlottesville. Jen also enjoys sharing travel, museums, theater performances and nature attractions with her family.