Of the crops you list, I don't plant them out until mid-Sept which is just about when our summer weather begins to cool off. Kale might be the one exception as it is more heat tolerant. I do have 1 large container of it already planted but in the shade.

As to other crops - fall tomatoes, a second round of summer squash and a few potatoes are already planted. My short day onions and garlic will also wait until late Sept/early Oct to go out.

Dave

Great advice...just the kind of info I was looking for. I'll wait till mid sept when it starts to cool. When is your first frost? Ours is around Oct 20. It looks like we are in similar zones.

Same here officially - Oct. 20. But I have a good micro-climate on the shore of a big lake with a prevailing west wind. That gets me a good 10+ degrees warmth well into mid-Nov. usually. I'm always prepared to cover tho just in case.

Dave

"I have seedlings ready to plant out-kale,spinach,cabbage, broc,caul, lettuce,etc."

I'm up in Va but my fall planting routine has always worked well here as follows and I use both transplants and seeds depending upon the veggie involved :

Broc/Cabbage/Caul transplants : Get planted 3rd week in Aug (now), but keep them watered or shaded if possible during intense heat as they get thru transplant shock and get deep roots established.

Kale (and collards, turnips) : Start as seed in ground now thru Sept 1st. These are fast growing seeds and don't require transplanting here.

Lettuce : Start as seed in ground by Labor Day

Spinach : Plant seed now and around Labor Day and again by Nov 1st for an early spring harvest (it will survive winter and regrow in March)

etc.?? : Plant carrot & beet seeds in ground now.

Frost won't hurt any of these listed above except lettuce a little bit. Hard freeze will kill the lettuce. Harvest time varies but most will be ready by Halloween thru Thxgiving. Carrots are good thru Jan.

Watch out for late pests like grasshoppers which love young plants and sprouting seeds.

I actually started spinach inside about a month ago... and it bolted (inside!!!) before it was ever cool enough to go outside! So I pulled it out and replanted. Lesson learned.

I actually put lettuce seedlings out though. The lettuce variety I grow (Midnight Ruffles) has proven to be very heat-tolerant, so I'm hoping it doesn't bolt in this late summer weather.

Thanks for all the tips. I am trying to learn the fall routine. I think I need to put all this on a calendar so I can stay on schedule. I love reading on this forum-i don't think I could garden without it.

Using a calendar is the only way I can keep up with the 3 veggie seasons in Z-7. Fall planting times are much more precise than spring or summer plantings. A mild fall can be very productive but an early winter can stop some things in their tracks. Late mature insect pests can also be a headache, I noticed that my germinating carrots were being quickly eaten by almost invisible small grasshoppers today. Here today, gone tomorrow, it's one reason I seed thickly in the fall and leave the thinning to the insects, slugs, etc.

My fall crop gets planted based on days to maturity and knowing my average last frost date. They sit in 1 inch cells till then. I don't let plant size dictate things. I.e 4 inch broccoli at 2 months old waiting to be transplanted will do just as good as a 1 footer at same age.

2 months is way to long to be putting out broccoli transplants and if they are only 4" at that age you are doing something wrong. 1" cells for 2 month old broccoli????? Your just asking for root bound transplants IMO.

I try not to go over 5 weeks before putting out brassica transplants and they get potted up from cell packs to 4" pots at 2 weeks.

Our late summer/fall temps are so varies here in No CA that I usually buy starts for my winter stuff (chard, kale, etc)

In the last month or so we've had something like 2 weeks of 100+*! Crazy!

Nancy