Hi Molly - there are lots of "what to plant now" discussions running here right now you'll get ideas from so I suggest you browse through them.

if you haven't already started transplants then you'll be limited to things you can direct seed - lettuces, leafy greens like spinach, and a Fall crop of bush green beans is a good place to start.

But it all depends on what you like to eat. Why plant something you won't eat? :)

Dave

You might get a crop of cukes in too. There's at least 60 days left.

Zucchini can come in yet. Green beans are in the last week for a fall crop around here. I am going to plant Super Sugar Snap Peas in 2 days. Inside in 3 inch sq. plastic pots, I am going to start my fall crop of butterhead lettuce [Skyphos], and spinach [salad] in 2 days also. These need starting indoors to germinate properly as they don't start well outdoors in the heat. After they come up, they will get part-time sunshine and get transplanted in the garden later.

This week I started cabbage, chard and kale in containers for setting out in a few weeks, and direct-seeded parsnips, beets and rutabagas. When the summer squash are done in a week or so I'll plant carrots. All of the leafy greens are on the planting list for the next month.

I was planning on planting carrots, but now I am not so sure, they seem to take a very long time, 100+ days to full maturity. I am expecting a fall frost in mid October, zone 6, is it too late to plant them? If it is I will plant something that can better handle the cold. Though I don't want things growing in November, the hungry deer will jump my 6' fence by then...

Peter1142, could you protect carrots with a simple low tunnel of garden fabric? I have a portable one I use to protect a late planting of bush beans from frost. We usually get a frost mid-September but if they can get through that we get some good weather and fresh beans. I just planted bush beans after harvesting garlic.

I've had good luck with spinach wintering over without protection. Even without good snowfall, it started growing in early spring. So, if it doesn't get big enough for harvest, you can always wait until spring.

Mollyjane, I think you can plant broccoli, spinach, lettuce, greens and beets. When is your first frost date? I used Johnny's Seeds calculator to get a list.

Peter, I have had carrots do fine with the first few frosts (mine is usually October 15th). Even after that, even if the tops die, a layer mulch makes mine harvestable for some time into the winter. I would start them now, in fact, I need to go out and start some.