Fall in Tennessee doesn’t mean the end of planting season—it’s actually a great time to try something different in your garden. While most gardeners stick to the usual lettuce and kale, there’s a whole world of unusual edible plants that thrive when temperatures cool down.
These lesser-known crops can add exciting flavors to your kitchen and give your garden a unique twist that neighbors will ask about.
1. Groundcherry
These little fruits hide inside papery husks that look like tiny lanterns hanging from the plant. When they drop to the ground and turn golden, they’re ready to eat with a sweet taste that reminds you of pineapple mixed with tomato.
Fall planting works well in Tennessee because groundcherries handle light frosts without problems. You can start them from seed or transplants, and they’ll produce fruit before the hard freezes arrive.
In my Nashville garden last year, I planted groundcherries in September and picked fruit through November. The plants sprawled more than I expected, so give them plenty of space or use cages to keep them tidy.
2. Sunchoke (Jerusalem Artichoke)
Tall stalks shoot up with yellow flowers that brighten fall gardens, but the real treasure grows underground. The knobby tubers taste nutty and slightly sweet, perfect for roasting or making into soup.
Plant tubers directly in the ground this fall, and they’ll establish roots before winter. Tennessee’s mild autumn gives them time to settle in, and they’ll come back year after year without much fuss.
A word of caution from experience: these plants spread like crazy if you let them. I planted a small patch in Knoxville three years ago, and now they pop up everywhere. Plant them where you don’t mind them taking over.
3. Oca
Bright tubers in shades of pink, yellow, and orange make this South American plant a conversation starter. The tangy, lemony flavor works great in salads or roasted as a side dish that surprises dinner guests.
Tennessee’s fall weather suits oca perfectly since it forms tubers as days get shorter. Plant small tubers now, and they’ll grow through the cool months, producing a harvest right before the first hard freeze hits.
I tried growing oca in my Memphis raised bed two autumns ago and loved how easy it was. The clover-like leaves looked pretty all season, and digging up the colorful tubers felt like finding buried treasure.
4. Mizuna
Feathery leaves with jagged edges give this Japanese mustard green a delicate appearance that hides its peppery punch. The mild spice adds life to salads without overwhelming other flavors, and it stays tender even as temperatures drop.
Quick growth makes mizuna ideal for Tennessee fall gardens—seeds sprout fast and leaves are ready to harvest in just three weeks. It handles frost better than regular lettuce, so you can keep picking fresh greens well into winter.
Last October in Chattanooga, I planted mizuna between my tomato plants as they finished up. The mizuna filled in the empty spots quickly and gave me fresh salad greens when everything else had slowed down.
5. Wasabi Arugula
Regular arugula seems tame compared to this spicy cousin that delivers a real kick. The heat hits your nose like wasabi does, making it perfect for anyone who loves bold flavors in their cooking.
Cool fall weather in Tennessee actually makes wasabi arugula taste better—hot summers turn it bitter and tough. Plant seeds now, and you’ll have harvestable leaves in about a month that keep producing until hard freezes arrive.
I planted this in my Knoxville container garden last September after reading about it online. The spice level shocked me at first, but I learned to use just a few leaves mixed with milder greens for the perfect salad bite.
6. Good King Henry
This old-fashioned perennial vegetable once fed European peasants and kings alike, though most modern gardeners have never heard of it. Arrow-shaped leaves taste similar to spinach, and young shoots can be cooked like asparagus in spring.
Fall planting gives Good King Henry time to establish strong roots before winter dormancy. Tennessee’s climate suits this hardy plant well, and once established, it returns every year without replanting or much maintenance.
My grandmother grew this in her Nashville garden decades ago, and I finally tried it myself last autumn. The leaves stayed productive through several frosts, and I’m excited to see what the spring shoots taste like this year.
7. Sea Kale
Silvery-blue leaves make this perennial stand out in any garden bed, even when you’re not harvesting it for food. The thick leaves and young shoots taste mildly like cabbage with a slightly nutty finish that works well steamed or sautéed.
Despite its name, sea kale doesn’t need ocean conditions—it grows fine in Tennessee gardens with good drainage. Fall planting allows roots to establish before winter, and the plant will produce edible shoots for many years once settled in.
I planted sea kale crowns in my Murfreesboro garden last October after seeing them at a specialty nursery. The unusual leaf color caught my eye first, but the spring harvest of tender shoots made it worth the space.
8. Malabar Spinach
Thick, almost succulent-like leaves grow on vines that climb up trellises or fences with enthusiasm. The taste resembles regular spinach but with a slightly peppery note, and the leaves hold up better when cooked because they’re so sturdy.
While most gardeners grow this in summer, Tennessee’s mild fall lets you start it now for late-season production. The vines grow fast once established and can handle light frosts that would kill regular spinach instantly.
In my Jackson garden, I planted Malabar spinach along my back fence in early September. It climbed six feet before the first freeze, giving me plenty of greens and creating a pretty green screen that blocked the neighbor’s shed.
9. Samphire
Crunchy stems that taste naturally salty make this coastal plant a unique addition to inland Tennessee gardens. Often called sea asparagus, samphire adds a briny flavor to dishes without needing extra salt, and it looks interesting with its finger-like green shoots.
Growing samphire in Tennessee takes some creativity since it prefers salty conditions. Container planting with sandy soil works best, and fall’s cooler temperatures help it establish without the stress of summer heat beating down.
I experimented with samphire in a large pot on my Memphis patio last autumn. Adding a tiny bit of sea salt to the watering can helped it thrive, and I loved having that ocean flavor right here in landlocked Tennessee.
10. Cardoon
Imagine a giant artichoke plant that you grow for the stalks instead of the flower buds. The thick stems need blanching to reduce bitterness, but once prepared, they taste like a richer, more complex version of celery with artichoke undertones.
Fall planting works perfectly in Tennessee because cardoons need time to develop before producing edible stalks. The plants grow quite large—up to five feet tall—so make sure you have space before committing to this architectural addition.
I planted cardoon in my Franklin garden two years ago and was amazed by how much it resembled a prehistoric plant. Blanching the stalks took effort, but the unique flavor made it worthwhile for special dinners.
11. Egyptian Walking Onion
Bulbils form at the top of tall stems instead of flowers, eventually weighing down the stalk until it touches the ground and plants itself. This strange growing habit earned the name walking onion, and both the bulbils and underground bulbs taste like regular onions with a milder bite.
Tennessee’s fall weather provides ideal conditions for planting these perennial onions. They’ll establish roots now and start their walking routine next growing season, spreading slowly across your garden bed without any help from you.
My Clarksville neighbor gave me some bulbils last September, and I planted them along my garden edge. Watching them walk across the bed has been entertaining, and I always have fresh onions available whenever I need them.
12. Welsh Onion
Hollow green stalks grow in thick clumps that keep producing year after year without forming large bulbs. The flavor sits somewhere between scallions and regular onions, making them useful for any recipe that calls for oniony flavor without overwhelming intensity.
Plant Welsh onion sets or divisions this fall in Tennessee, and they’ll establish strong roots before winter. Come spring, you’ll have one of the earliest crops ready to harvest when everything else is just starting to wake up.
I’ve grown Welsh onions in my Bristol garden for three years now, and they’re the most reliable plant I have. They survive Tennessee winters without protection, multiply on their own, and give me fresh onion flavor from March through November.