Yes probably too late for the things you listed according to the Clemson University extension service that I linked below. At the bottom of the link it has a table listing spring and fall planting times for various veggies and breaks the state up into 3 regions. Day length may be more of an issue then temperature right now. Things just don't grow much when only getting 10-11 hours of sun. Hopefully someone from your area will chime in with their experience.

Depending on your location there are a few things like Radishes, spinach that might produce.

SC planting quide

How long to your first hard freeze? That and the DTM on your seeds is the key.

It would be worth a small experiment so you'd know for next year - best way to learn. I'd try a small patch of collards since they are so frost tolerant. I'd skip the lettuce and whatever else. Some short day early cabbage might give you a few small heads if the weather cooperates.

Dave

Assuming you are in the low country, Collards and cabbage will overwinter. You will need to use plants tho, not direct seeding. Here in Augusta Georgia, I grow Cabbage, collards, turnips, mustard and several oriental brassicas for winter harvest. Last planting in early October. Broccoli an Cauliflower I transplant in September as I need a Thanksgiving harvest. I also plant English peas in late November and transplant onions in early December. If you are south of I-20 you should be good. North of I-20 it becomes more and more iffy.

Really depends upon where you are. In 8c, you should have no problem with the highly frost tolerant plants that have been recommended to you. You're saying that, in 8c, you just can't have a winter garden??? Sounds like a recently transplanted northerner. I'm in 8b, and my collards are real troopers in the winter. Root veggies as well. Collard and beet leaf salads. That's the ticket. My peas are in, and will be producing in February. In fact, a lot of my gardening is in what we call "winter".

It seems the Clemson extension guidelines for fall planting are pretty conservative then. They don't recommend planting much of anything after mid September. I'm glad farmerdill chimed in with his experience in a similar climate. I would take his advise as gold.

Here in the great plains we are down in the mid 30s this morning for the first time this fall. I and my fall garden like it! Looking forward to having some fresh frost kissed Brussels Sprouts soon!

Both Clemson and UGA are in the northern part of their respective states. Zone 7 and often forget their southern counties.

Thanks all. I will see what Clemson extension has to say sround here. I'll get plants from Branchville. They are 12 for $1.00. Can't hurt to try. Farmerdill I'll see what if does. A little back work us all that I will loose. Thanks everyone.

You can still plant some things in the fall for spring growth and summer harvest. For example, you can plant garlic and mulch it after the first freeze. This gives the garlic time to grow roots over the winter and thus gives it a head start in the spring if you remove the mulch after the last frost. You can also plant some early spring crops like spinach. Some of the seeds may rot over the winter but not many. At the earliest time the weather allows the crop will germinate, getting the earliest possible start to the growing season. This also works for such crops a chards and mustard greens.

Obviously I'm not familiar with your climate but I imagine favas would work for you from an Autumn sowing. Mine will be going in in a couple of weeks. You won't get beans in the winter but you'll them them earlier next year than from a spring sowing.

I am in your zone but the Piedmont region and I know kale does really well. I was just asking DH if we could plant more leaf lettuces since our last plantings are about done, which just makes me sad. I will check with some of my master gardener friends if they have any recommendations.

Thanks gsciencechick! I'm gonna just try everything and see what happens. I just love gardening. But this year was busy and I just couldn't do what was needed earlier. But I will start now. Thanks all!!!

Cathy.....I plant leaf lettuce and spinach seed from early Sept to early-Oct and will harvest individual leaves until late Nov, then these same plants will overwinter and start growing again in early March to be harvested in April and May. I have never lost a spinach plant in winter, but will cover lettuces if it will get much below 20F which happens several nights. It's still not too late to plant broccoli transplants, they are much easier to grow in the fall than spring here. As others have said collards, kale, cabbage, mustards, turnips, etc are all fall/winter crops here in SC. Remember that these are frost-tolerant crops and that in most of SC our 1st freeze date can be as late as Dec many years. We might have some upper 30's in Oct, but then just as likely to have no 30's all of Nov.

Dave, what type of broccoli do you plant. I can never grow broccoli. It grows then the heads start flowering. What am I doing wrong? Should I do seeds or plants in SC zone 8?

Not Dave. But if yours head s start flowering that is what they are supposed to do. We are supposed to harvest the heads just before the buds start to open. If your problem is small heads, The problem is usually crowding or poor nutrition. Varieties of course vary in size.

farmerdill - what is your experience with Sun King? I tried to grow it one spring a few years ago right after Burpee started offering it. I wanted a later variety to go with my Early Dividend and Green Magic to stagger my harvest. Every Sun KIng plant buttoned on me while the other 2 did great. I threw the seeds out and never looked back.

I think I have settled on growing Early Dividend, Bay Meadows, and Arcadia for now. I would also like to try Coronado Crown but I can't seem to find seeds anywhere.

I am getting one of my best fall broccoli crops ever this year. I have harvested the main heads of the ED and BM already and they are really putting out some nice side shoots now. The Arcadia main heads should be ready to harvest in another 7-10 days.

This is Bay Meadows from spring 2016 harvest.

Garden pictures · More Info

Sun King was quite mediocre for me. Small heads and not very vigorous. Lots of better varieties including Bay Meadows, Early Dividend, Blue Wind, Southern Comet, etc. Only variety that I have tried that is worse is Belstar. 2016, I am growing Athlete for a fall crop. Many varieties that have performed well for me in the past have been discontinued. Super Dome was one of my favorites.

Thanks for the confirmation that Sun King is a dud!

Some of the sites that used to offer Coronado Crown substituted Belstar so it is good to know to avoid that one as well.

Athlete F1 looks interesting in the pictures but 100-110 DTM??? I assume that is from seed but it still seems awful late (70-80 days from transplant). I'm not sure I could get away with it in either season here as it would not have time to head up in the spring before the heat when transplanted in early April. I guess an early August transplant would make most years unless we had a mid October hard freeze spell. Only a couple online vendors selling it...I assume it is fairly new?

I've considered Blue WInd F1 as an early variety as well and might try it sometime in place of Early Dividend. My favorite local seed store stocks several Cornucopia offers and I bought 2 more packets of ED a couple months ago when they were half price so I am set on an early variety for a few years.

Yes Athlete is in the 75 day class. Best as a fall crop here but did perform satisfactory in the spring as it has more heat resistance than most. It is very erratic in heading, can extend over a two week period. It reliably heads but the heads are not always pretty, similar to Gypsy in that regard. The time I would recommend is for a home gardener who wants a scattered out harvest.