Zone 9 - What to Plant in September

Zone 9 - What to Plant in September

September is one of the best months to start gardening in Zone 9. You're just past the dog days of summer and the weather is starting to cool down a bit. The typical first frost in Zone 9 is mid December but even then it can be very mild. This allows for easy winter growing of several crops. Below is a list of items that can be planted in zone 9 in September.

Freckles Lettuce gets its name for being an unusual bright green romaine lettuce with crimson freckles! This uniquely colored lettuce is sun-loving and grows upright. This variety has a crisp texture that can be harvested early or late!

The Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce is a very early and dependable lettuce. This large upright, compact leaf-type lettuce produces delicious light green, wide, curled leaves. The Black Seeded Simpson is a productive variety!

Georgia Southern is a large collard plant with a cabbage-like taste! This variety produces bluish-green leaves that can grow up to 36" tall and do not bunch or head like cabbage leaves. These large open heads are great for cooking or freezing. The Georgia Southern collard is vitamin rich, sweet, not bitter, heat tolerant, and frost hardy.

The Green Sprouting Calabrese produces large dark green heads bursting with flavor. This broccoli with is a favorite, that now is available as organic seed! Good in short season areas with cool nights. It will produce many lateral or side shoots over a long season. It is slow bolting with a flavor that can't be beat.

Butter King Lettuce is slow to bolt or turn bitter. This varieties' light-green crisp 12-13 oz. butterheads do well in Midwest heat. The Butter King is a Boston type, but it is nearly twice as large and more tender. This lettuce grows vigorously with a good flavor and is disease resistant.

Late Flat Dutch cabbage seeds produce one of the oldest and most reliable heirloom cabbage varieties, first introduced to American gardens in the mid-1800s and prized for its large, flat, broad heads. This late-season type matures slowly, typically in 100–110 days, forming dense, firm heads that can weigh 10–15 pounds, making it excellent for gardeners seeking high yields and long storage. Its flavor is mild, sweet, and crisp, improving after light frost exposure, which enhances its natural sugars. Historically valued for sauerkraut production, it remains a top choice for fermentation, coleslaw, boiling, and traditional cooking, while its long shelf life makes it a staple for winter kitchens and homestead food preservation.

Clemson Spineless 80 Okra is the most popular okra found in home gardens and markets and an All American Selections winner for a reason! This high yielding plant produces dark green, grooved pods that stay spineless and non-woody. Clemson Spineless grows to 4' tall and pods are most tender and flavorful when harvested at 3-4". This okra is excellent for pickling or cutting up or using in some fresh gumbo or strews!

Great field cabbage performance. A rugged hybrid that produces well in Southern winters and Northern summers. Produces large, blue-green heads with cream colored inside. Uniform cabbage that works great for markets.

The Blondy Okra is a dwarf spineless variety that has ribbed creamy-lime green pods that are perfect for adding to soups or stews. This okra plant gets to be three feet tall and two feet wide, making it perfect for smaller gardens or containers. This okra is very productive and can be sown directly once the soil reaches to be 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Bistro Blend is a component mixture of loose leaf lettuce and batavian varieties. All the varieties in this blend have been selected for sweet flavor and thick leaves that stand up well in a rough chopped salad. This blend's colors range from red, bronze, dark green and bright green. This Bistro Blend is a garden favorite with production all year long.

Alaska pea seeds grow into one of the oldest and earliest-maturing pea varieties, first introduced in the late 1800s and valued for its ability to thrive in cool northern climates. This hardy shelling pea produces compact, vining plants that yield an abundance of small, smooth, bright green pods filled with sweet, tender peas in just about 55 days, making it a favorite for short-season gardeners. The plants are relatively easy to grow, preferring well-drained soil and cool weather, and they often set pods before summer heat diminishes yields. With a mild, slightly starchy sweetness, Alaska peas are excellent for fresh eating, freezing, or canning, and have long been popular in soups and stews due to their ability to hold flavor and texture after cooking. Their dependable growth and versatile use have kept them a staple in gardens for well over a century.

Organic - The Star of David is an Israeli okra variety with grooves, making it resemble a "star." This okra's unbranched stalks grow 8-10 ft. and produce 7" long pods with medium spines if left to mature.  Star of David is a bright green okra with purple coloration on top of leaf petioles and major leaf veins. This variety is best picked when small and will keep well. Conventional seed available.