Plant this Month

What to Plant This Month- October

The fall planting season is in full swing. Bulbs, perennials, trees, wildflowers, flowering sweet peas and veggies go in the ground now. Enjoy the break from the heat and go plant something!

ANNUALS: Plant cool-season annuals. Look for pansies, primrose, Iceland poppies, ornamental kale, forget-me-nots, snapdragon, sweet peas, stock and more. Looking for something out of the ordinary? Try Annie's Annuals (& perennials), sold through several local nurseries (click here for where to buy). Also check the seed racks for annuals that can be planted from seed now. Sweet alyssum, corn cockle, shirley poppy and love-in-a-mist are a few that reseed year after year.

BULBS: Plant tulips, daffodils, Dutch iris, crocus, hyacinth, freesia, scilla, watsonia, sparaxis, tritonia, ranunculus, ixia, leucojum and more. NOTE: Only tulips and hyacinths benefit from 6-8 weeks of chilling in the refrigerator. Tulips, except species tulips, are generally a one-shot deal in our mild-winter climate. That's ok. If you don't want to replant your tulip beds every year, try growing them as annuals in pots. Overplant with pansies or other cool-season annuals. Daffodils return year after year, are considered deer-proof and some varieties will naturalize in our area.

VEGETABLES: October is a great time to plant garlic, green onions (can be repeat-planted through December), peas (repeat-plant through January), onion seed, radish (repeat-plant through April), and spinach (repeat-plant through January). Nurseries will have other cool season veggies like broccoli, lettuce and carrots as well.

University of California Vegetable Research & Info Center (UCVRIC) Fall Planting Schedule
Using November 14 as the first average frost date for Sacramento (source: http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/ca.html)

Crop	Days to count back from first frost date	Date to start seed indoors or direct seed in ground	Weeks to transplant	When to transplant
Beets	74	Sept. 1	Direct seed
Broccoli	95	Aug. 11	3	Sept. 1
Brussels Sprouts	120	July 17	3	Aug. 7
Cabbage	99	Aug. 5	3 or direct seed	Aug. 26
Carrots	85-100	Aug. 6-21	Direct seed
Cauliflower	90	Aug. 16	3	Sept. 6
Chinese Cabbage	90	Aug. 16	Direct seed
Collards	94	Aug. 12	3	Sept. 2
Dill		July	Direct seed
Endive & Escarole	142	June 25	3	July 16
Kale	60	Sept. 15	Direct seed
Kohlrabi	86	Aug. 20	Direct seed
Lettuce, head	96	Aug. 10	Direct seed
Lettuce, leaf	76	Aug. 30	Direct seed
Mustard	40	Oct. 5	Direct seed
Peas	70	Sept. 5	Direct seed
Radish, summer	42	Oct. 3	Direct seed
Radish, late	70	Sept. 5	Direct seed
Rutabagas	105	Aug. 1	Direct seed
Spinach	64	Sept. 11	Direct seed
Swiss Chard	69	Sept. 6	Direct seed
Turnips	63	Sept. 12	Direct seed

See the Yearly Vegetable Planting Calendar for additional crop info.

Also see: UC VRIC Table 2:
Vegetable Gardening at a Glance:
How to Plant and Store
(pdf file, requires Adobe Reader)

Includes Recommended Planting Dates for Sections of California, General Planting Requirements & Storage Conditions

Behind schedule? Buy transplants!

LAWNS: Early fall is a great time to plant new lawns from seed or sod or overseed existing lawns. Dwarf fescue blends are preferred for their toughness and lower water and mowing demands.

NATIVE PLANTS: Fall is the ideal time for planting native plants! Most nurseries, including Bushnell Gardens Nursery and Capital Nursery, carry a regular supply of natives. For native bulbs, try Far West Bulb Farm. Cornflower Farms, a wholesale native plant grower, is open to the public the 2nd Saturday (click to download schedule) of most months. Upcoming dates include: Sept. 13, October 11 and November 8. Check the events calendar for plant sales too!

WILDFLOWER SEEDS: It's also a great time for planting wildflowers. Try Peaceful Valley Farm Supply's Central Valley Wildflower Mix containing: California Poppy, Deerhorn Clarkia, California Blue Bell, Sweet Alyssum, Plains Coreopsis, Sulphur Cosmos, African Daisy, Blanketflower, Showy Blue Gilia, Gazania, Showy Evening Primrose, Mountain Garland, Chinese Houses, Globe Gilia, Scarlet Flax, Arroyo Lupine, Five Spot, Black-eyed Susan, Goldfields, Tidy Tips, Yellow Lupine, Moss Verbena, and New Mexico Evening Primrose. Native California wildflower purists? Try the California Native Wildflower mix , containing: Tidy Tips, California Poppy, Godetia, Five Spot, Sky Lupine, Chinese Houses, California Blue Bell, Mountain Garland, Globe Gilia, Showy Blue Gilia, Bird’s Eyes, Goldfields, Yellow Lupine, Arroyo Lupine, Baby Blue Eyes, Beach Evening Primrose, Blue-Eyed Grass and Mountain Phlox.

TREES: Fall tree-planting season is upon us! It's an especially good time for selecting fall-color trees because you'll be able to see what you're going to get in the way of color intensity and spectrum. Wide variation from tree to tree, even those of the same species and cultivar, is to be expected. Visit the Sacramento Tree Foundation's website for the lowdown on Sacramento area trees. Also see my picks and the City of Sacramento's Tree Planting Guide. If you're a SMUD customer, you may qualify for free shade trees! Click here to see what trees are being offered the Sacramento Shade Program and how to get them.

COVER CROP: Plant a cover crop in unused vegetable beds to preserve and improve soil structure and provide nitrogen for later use. Peaceful Valley Farm Supply is a great source of cover crop seeds.