Field Notes / What I'd Plant This Week on the Gulf Coast (Late July)
Field Notes

Start a Fall Garden in the Texas Heat

Late July feels like the garden's dead season, but it's secretly the most important planting week of the year — fall starts NOW. Here's my actual list.

J By Jordan Polasek · September 8, 2026 · El Campo, TX

By Jordan Polasek · September 8, 2026

Texas gardeners get a gift most of the country doesn’t: a real fall growing season. The trick is starting it while it still feels like summer — sowing in the heat so plants mature into the mild, productive months ahead.

Count backward from first frost

Our first frost is late — often November or later on the coast. Count the days-to-maturity back from there and you’ll see late summer is planting time, not the end of the season.

What to put in now

Happy growing, y’all. Got a Texas gardening or homesteading question? Come back tomorrow — there’s a fresh post here every day.


“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who gives the growth.” — 1 Corinthians 3:7

Around our little corner of the internet: BVTech.org · JordanPolasek.com · In Remembrance of Autumn 🐾

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