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North Texas' Second Growing Season Is Here

The worst of the DFW heat is finally breaking, and that means it's go-time for North Texas gardens. September and October aren't a wind-down here — they're basically a second spring, with a fall vegetable window, the best tree-planting weather of the year, and curb-appeal season all overlapping at once.

Get Your Fall Vegetables In Now

Direct-seed cool-season crops like turnips, radishes, carrots, beets, Swiss chard, and collard greens straight into the bed this month, and set out transplants of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale. Water new seedbeds twice a day until germination, use 40–50% shade cloth while afternoons are still warm, and mulch 3 inches deep once seedlings hit 4–6 inches tall.

This Is Prime Tree-Planting Season

If a new tree or shrub has been on your list, plant it now rather than in spring. Cooler air lets roots establish through fall and winter without the stress of summer heat, so the plant hits next year's growing season already settled in.

Hands planting a young tree sapling into the soil
Fall's cooler soil gives new roots time to establish before summer stress returns. Image: Robbieross123 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

October Curb Appeal

Swap out tired summer annuals for mums, pansies, and ornamental kale — all of which shrug off North Texas' early cold snaps. It's also the window to plant paperwhite bulbs outdoors, while tulip bulbs should go in the refrigerator now for a chilling period before planting in December.

Ornamental kale with ruffled purple and cream leaves in a fall garden bed
Ornamental kale holds its color through the first frosts, making it a DFW curb-appeal staple. Image: Terren / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

One planting session now saves you a spring scramble later — get the trees and cool-season crops in while the soil's still on your side.

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