The Grow Room Revival: Sowing June Seeds for a High-Yield Fall Garden! 🍂
Purple and yellow colored flowers with green leafy foliage (King Henry Violas). (Courtesy of TigreBlume)
By TigreBlume
The indoor seed-starting room is officially back up and running! While summer is in full swing outside, the secret to a continuous, high-yielding harvest—and massive grocery savings—is planning a full season ahead.
Last month, I fired up the grow lights to get a critical jump-start on my fall garden. While this wave mostly comprised texture-heavy annual flowers to refresh my autumn displays, I also sowed a fresh round of heat-tolerant greens to fill the gaps left behind by my harvested spring brassicas.
If you want a gorgeous autumn display and a heavy second harvest, the work starts now.
Here is the full breakdown of everything I sowed indoors this June:
The Autumn Flower Palette: Slow Growers & Vibrant Trailers
Because violas and pansies are notoriously slow growers, starting them in June gives them the luxurious 8-to-10-week head start they need to mature before outdoor hardening-off begins in August.
Arkwright Ruby Viola: This is my first time growing this heirloom, and I am obsessed with the vision of adding its deep, velvety burgundy color to my rail planters this fall. They will be stepping in to replace the King Henry violas currently anchoring my rail planter and deck garden containers.
Tigre Laeta Viola: This is not my first rodeo with this beautiful variety! I’m hoping to add its bright pops of yellow to contrast the deeper fall tones in my rail planters. Germination can be a bit finicky with this one, but gardening is all about the experiment—we will see how it goes!
Berna Velvet Blue Pansy: Another first-time variety for me. I plan on adding these rich, purple-blue blooms to my vertical GreenStalk planter and deck containers for a royal splash of autumn color.
Blanket Flowers (Gaillardia): It’s been a few years since I last grew these, and I’ve missed their fiery, daisy-like presence. They will be tucked into rail planters and containers throughout my front and back yards.
Sweet Alyssum Rosie O’Day: Earlier this season, I grew Oriental Nights from seed, and it is absolutely thriving on in the deck garden. I knew I needed alyssum for the fall, but I wanted a softer palette this time around. Rosie O'Day features stunning shades of light and deep pink, and I can't wait to see it spill over the edges of my containers.
Lobelia Cascade of Color: Lobelia is a very underrated trailing flower that provides a vibrant shower of blues, reds, pinks, whites, and purples. However, even with a mid-summer haircut, the spring-planted crops usually start to fizzle out by September. I started a fresh batch now to seamlessly replace the spent plants so the color never stops flowing.
Zinnia Star Gold: This is officially the most prolific, compact zinnia in my garden right now! It produces a non-stop blanket of small, bright yellow, daisy-like blooms that perfectly mimic the warmth of summer days, lasting straight into the cooling autumn air.
Alyssum seedlings growing in black plant tray. (Courtesy of TigreBlume)
The Protectors & The Plates: Fall Companion Planting & Greens
Dainty French Marigold: Surprisingly, this is my very first time growing this classic variety! Keeping marigolds tucked throughout the garden is an absolute must for organic pest management in the summer, and fall is no different. I’ll be interplanting this beauty into my raised vegetable beds, front yard containers, and perennial borders.
Burning Embers Marigold: Last fall, this was one of the absolute stars of the garden. It produces an incredibly productive, vibrant array of yellow-orange blooms that actually deepen and brighten in color as the weather cools. This one is going anywhere and everywhere I can find an open pocket of soil!
Georgia Southern Collards: This is one of my absolute favorite, ultra-dependable, heat-tolerant greens. While my current raised bed and fabric pot plantings are giving me a fantastic steady harvest right now, the cool autumn months are when collards truly shine, turning exceptionally sweet after a light frost. I’m growing an absolute abundance of these for a massive fall harvest—because nothing compares to the flavor of homegrown collards straight from the backyard!
The Fall Countdown: Start Your Seeds Today!
If you haven't started thinking about your fall garden yet, consider this your official sign to grab your seed trays! Depending on your specific growing zone, there is still plenty of time to get high-yield vegetables and stunning cool-weather flowers started.
When planning your fall crops, always count backward from your average first fall frost date. You want to ensure your plants have enough time to develop robust, mature root systems and healthy foliage before they hit the outdoor elements for hardening off and transplanting. Giving them that head start now ensures you get to enjoy full harvests and beautiful blooms before the winter freeze sets in.
In July, the grow room gets even busier! I’ll be diving headfirst into sowing my heavy-hitting fall brassicas, more flowers and another incredible variety of collards. Make sure to bookmark the blog and check back to see the next wave!
What are you planning to grow for your fall garden this year? Are you trying out fall flowers or sticking strictly to cool-season vegetables? Drop a comment below and let me know!
