What to Plant in October

The October garden looks like it is winding down, but the soil is still warm from summer, autumn rain does the watering for you, and everything planted now gets a head start that spring plantings never catch up with. Roots carry on growing long after the top of a plant has stopped, which is why an October planting is quietly one of the most productive things you can do all year. Here is what actually goes in the ground this month, whether you have a vegetable patch, a few containers, or one sunny border.

Garlic, onions, and shallots

October is THE garlic month across most temperate gardens. Split a bulb into cloves, plant them pointy-end up, 3–5 cm deep and 15 cm apart in full sun and free-draining soil. Most garlic actually needs a period of winter cold to split into a proper bulb, so autumn planting beats spring for size. Autumn onion sets and shallots go in the same way, 10 cm apart, tips just showing — they will sit quietly through winter and race away in March. In heavy, wet soil, plant into ridges or modules in a cold frame instead, and transplant in spring.

Broad beans and hardy peas

Sow a hardy broad bean variety (the classic is 'Aquadulce Claudia') 5 cm deep directly in the ground in October–November, and it will overwinter as a sturdy small plant, flowering weeks before spring sowings — often dodging blackfly season entirely. Hardy round-seeded peas work the same way in mild areas. In cold or mouse-plagued gardens, start both in pots under cover and plant out in late winter, which also protects the seed from rotting in a saturated bed.

Winter salads under cover

Growth slows as days shorten, but under a cloche, cold frame, or unheated greenhouse you can still establish winter lettuce, spinach, mâche (corn salad or lamb's lettuce), land cress, and mizuna. Mâche is the star — it germinates in cool soil and keeps producing through short days when almost nothing else will. Expect slow, steady picking rather than summer abundance: leaves sown now are mostly banking growth for a burst in late winter.

Spring cabbage and other brassica transplants

If you raised spring cabbage plants in late summer, October is when they go into their final positions, 30 cm apart, firmed in well and netted against pigeons. They stand through winter without complaint and heart up just when the garden is at its hungriest in April and May.

Spring bulbs — and the tulip exception

Daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, alliums, and most other spring bulbs should be in the ground this month if they are not already, planted at two to three times their own depth. Tulips are the one bulb that prefers to wait: plant them in November once the soil has cooled, which helps them dodge the fungal disease tulip fire. Bulbs in pots layered lasagne-style — tulips deep, daffodils in the middle, crocuses on top — give three waves of spring colour from one container.

Bare-root season begins

From late October, nurseries start shipping bare-root trees, roses, fruit bushes, and hedging — cheaper and with a better root system than potted equivalents. Plant them any time the soil is not frozen or waterlogged. Autumn-planted trees and shrubs establish over winter and need far less watering next summer than spring-planted ones.

Quick jobs that pay off

• Sow green manures (field beans, winter rye) on empty beds to protect and feed the soil
• Plant new perennials while the soil is warm — they root in before winter
• Pot up herbs like chives and mint to bring indoors for winter
• Keep sowing hardy annual flowers (calendula, cornflower) for earlier blooms next year

Tip: The finger test still applies in autumn — soil that sticks in a ball is too wet to work. Wait a few dry days rather than compacting wet beds.

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