Monday, Sept. 22, is the official start of fall 2025, that waypoint in the calendar year when our day and night length is equal as we tread toward winter.

For gardeners, it signals cooling temperatures, changing leaf colors, and a boatload of retail reminders that “Fall is for Planting!!!!”

But is it really?

The short answer is, yes. Usually. Early fall is generally one of Pennsylvania’s two best planting windows of the year — assuming the ground isn’t bone dry from weeks with no rain as it is this year in some areas.

The first good planting window is coming out of winter into early spring — a period that roughly spans late March through mid-May. That’s a time when the temperatures and soil are warming and days are increasing, yet before the more punishing hot, dry summer weather shows

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