What to Plant in August (Zone 7b): Your Complete Virginia Planting Guide

Every August, I hear the same sentence, delivered with the same funeral-tone sigh.

"I guess I missed my chance to start a garden this year."

Meanwhile your neighbor's tomatoes are out here thriving like they've never heard of a drought, and the garden center clearance shelf looks like a crime scene.

So yeah. It feels like it's over.

It is not over.

Here in Virginia, "it's too late" is one of the biggest lies gardeners tell themselves — right up there with "I'll definitely remember which pepper is which without labeling it."

August isn't the end of the season.

It's the beginning of your fall garden.

While a lot of people are busy harvesting cucumbers and zucchini, some of us are already thinking about what goes in the ground next.

Our growing season gives us something a lot of the country doesn't get: A second chance. And honestly? Sometimes it's even better than the first.

Why August Matters in Virginia

Most of Central Virginia sits in Zone 7b, and that little number is doing more work than people realize.

Our average last frost usually lands around mid-April, while our first frost doesn't show back up until late October or early November. That's more than 200 days to grow food.

Instead of trying to squeeze your entire garden into one spring planting, start thinking about your year in seasons.

Spring is for cool-weather vegetables.

Summer is for heat-loving crops.

August is when you start planting for fall.

And here's the best part.

Fall gardens are often easier. Cooler temperatures slow down many of the insects that make spring gardening frustrating, and crops like carrots, kale, and beets actually taste sweeter after cool nights, because the plant converts stored starch into sugar as a kind of natural antifreeze once temperatures drop.

This isn't the backup season.

In a lot of ways, it's the better one. Especially for beginners.

Your August Planting Snapshot

If you're just looking for the quick answer, here it is.

🌱 Direct Sow

• Bush beans

• Pole beans

• Carrots

• Beets

• Turnips

• Radishes

• Fast-maturing cucumbers

• Summer squash (early August)

• Zucchini (early August)

• Basil

• Okra

• Cowpeas / black-eyed peas (early August)

• Callaloo / amaranth greens

• Yardlong beans (early August, look for a 60-day variety)

🌿 Start in Trays

• Broccoli

• Cabbage

• Cauliflower

• Kale

• Brussels sprouts

• Collards

• Parsley

🐝 Native Plants to Start

• Black-eyed Susan

• Purple Coneflower

• Wild Bergamot

• Lanceleaf Coreopsis

• New England Aster

🌿 Herbs

• Parsley

• Chamomile

• Chives

• Dill — late August

• Cilantro — late August

• Thyme, sage and oregano — plant as starts

  
  

🌼 Cool-season flowers to start

• Calendula — late August or start in trays (prefers cooler soil)

• Chamomile

• Snapdragons late — August or start in trays (prefers cooler soil)

• Dianthus

• Pansies

• Love-in-a-mist

• Sunflowers

• Zinnias

• Cosmos

• Nasturtium

• Sweet alyssum

Now let's talk about why.

Direct Sow While the Soil Is Still Warm

Warm soil is one of the biggest advantages you have right now.

Seeds like beans, cucumbers, squash, basil, and sunflowers actually love warm ground. They'll often germinate faster now than they did back in April — warm soil speeds up the chemical processes inside the seed that trigger sprouting.

The trade-off?

Warm soil also dries out quickly.

If you're sowing seed directly into the garden, keep the soil consistently moist during those first couple of weeks while roots establish. A light mulch — or even laying a board over the row until seedlings emerge — can help hold that moisture in.

One thing I always recommend this time of year is checking the days-to-maturity on the seed packet before you plant.

Here's the math:

If today is August 1st, and our average first frost here in Central Virginia is around October 25th, you've got roughly 85 days left in the season.

A cucumber that matures in 55 days still leaves you about 30 days of breathing room — enough cushion for a cloudy stretch or a slow start.

A winter squash that needs 100 days?

That one doesn't fit. Save it for spring, and don't let the seed packet guilt-trip you into planting it anyway.

As a rule of thumb, anything 65 to 70 days or under still has a comfortable cushion right now. Anything past that is asking your garden to outrun a frost, and frost always wins.

Sometimes gardening is less about what can grow, and more about knowing when not to force it.

And if your garden feeds more than just a Pinterest board:

This is also a great window to get some crops in that don't always make it onto the standard planting guide, but absolutely belong in a Virginia garden.

Okra and callaloo (a fast-growing amaranth green) both move quickly and thrive in this heat. Cowpeas, better known as black-eyed peas, are a nitrogen-fixer that also happens to be one of the most quietly important crops in Southern and West African foodways — plant them early August and they'll have plenty of time to produce. Yardlong beans want the same early-August timing, so grab a 60-day variety if you can find one; the ones that run 80 days are cutting it close.

None of these are "exotic." They're just under-marketed. Your garden center may not stock the seed, but plenty of online seed companies carry all four.

Start Your Fall Garden Now

August is also the month I start thinking ahead.

Broccoli. Kale. Cabbage. Cauliflower. Brussels sprouts. Collards.

These don't belong in the garden just yet — but they do belong in seed trays.

By the time they're ready to transplant, summer will be starting to loosen its grip, and they'll grow into the cooler weather they actually prefer. These are cool-season crops by nature, which is exactly why they struggle in spring here — our heat shows up before they're finished, and it bolts or toughens them. Started now, they get to mature into the weather that suits them best.

Keep trays somewhere bright, but don't let them bake in direct afternoon sun.

Trust me. A seed tray can cook surprisingly fast this time of year.

Don't Forget the Roots

If you've never grown a fall carrot, this might be the year to change that.

August is the beginning of root crop season.

Plant things like:

• Carrots

• Beets

• Turnips

• Radishes

• Rutabagas

And don't forget heat-tolerant greens like:

• Arugula

• Mustard greens

All of these germinate just fine in still-warm August soil, so they can go straight in the ground now. A lot of them also get sweeter after that first cool night hits, for the same starch-to-sugar reason mentioned earlier.

Sow in the late afternoon and water them in well — that alone makes a real difference in germination during our warmer stretches.

(Lettuce and spinach are worth growing this fall too — they just need the soil to cool down a bit more first. I'll cover those when we get closer to September.)

Start a Native Tray While You're At It

This is something new I'm doing myself this year.

Every time I start vegetables, I'm also starting one tray of native plants.

Not because I need them tomorrow. Because I'll need them next year.

• Black-eyed Susan

• Purple coneflower

• Wild bergamot

• Lanceleaf coreopsis

• New England aster

A lot of native perennials actually benefit from an early start and a full season to establish roots before their first winter — so a tray started in August gives them a real head start heading into next spring's bloom.

Native gardens aren't built in a weekend.

They're built one tray at a time.

Your August Garden Checklist

☐ Succession sow beans.

☐ Harvest herbs often.

☐ Mulch your beds.

☐ Water deeply.

☐ Watch for Japanese beetles, squash vine borers, and hornworms.

☐ Make room for your fall transplants.

☐ Start a tray of native plants.

☐ Label your seedlings before they all start looking the same.

Good gardens aren't built by planting everything once and hoping for the best.

They're built by replacing one season with the next.

On purpose.

Quick Questions, Quick Answers

Is it too late to plant a garden in Virginia in August?

Not even close. Our first frost usually doesn't arrive until late October or early November, which gives you 80+ days — plenty of time for fast-growing crops and cool-season fall favorites.

What vegetables can I still plant in August in Zone 7b? Beans, cucumbers, summer squash, okra, cowpeas, callaloo, carrots, beets, turnips, radishes, and heat-tolerant greens like arugula and mustard can all go directly in the ground right now.

Can I still start broccoli or kale in August?

Yes — but start them in trays, not directly in the garden. They're cool-season crops that need to mature into fall weather, so they'll go in the ground later once summer eases up.

Do fall vegetables really taste different than spring ones?

Often, yes. Cold triggers many plants to convert starch into sugar, which is why fall carrots, beets, and greens tend to taste sweeter than their spring counterparts.

One Last Thought

If you've been putting off starting a garden because you thought you missed your chance...

This is your reminder.

There's no perfect day to begin.

There's just the season you're in.

And here in Virginia, August isn't the end of gardening season.

It's one of the best times to get started.

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