Zone 10a Fall and Winter Planting Guide: What to Sow October Through January

October 09, 2026

Zone 10a at a Glance: Why Fall Is the Growing Season

Zone 10a runs on an average annual minimum temperature of 30 to 35°F. That range covers South Florida’s interior (Fort Myers, Naples, inland Miami-Dade), the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, and coastal pockets of Southern California. If you garden here, your calendar runs backward from most of the country’s. Summer heat, not winter cold, is what shuts a Zone 10a garden down. July and August soil temperatures routinely sit above 85°F at a 2-inch depth, too hot for lettuce, broccoli, or peas to germinate reliably. October through January is when the soil cools into a range those crops can use, which makes this four-month stretch the primary growing season, not a tail end of one.

Frost is not the organizing constraint it is in Zone 7 or Zone 8. Many Zone 10a locations, the Keys corridor especially, go multiple winters without a measurable frost. Plan this season around soil temperature and day length, not a hard freeze date.

For the full zone profile, including the frost-frequency data behind that 30 to 35°F range, see the Zone 10a hub. If you garden in South Florida specifically, the Florida Vegetable Gardening guide walks the same October-to-January window crop by crop, with the regional pest and humidity notes a national calendar leaves out.

What to Plant in Zone 10a in October

Soil temperatures in early October are still warm, typically 78 to 82°F at a 2-inch depth, cooling toward 75°F by the end of the month. That’s too warm for lettuce or spinach seed to germinate well (both prefer soil under 75°F), but it’s the window for transplants of cool-season crops started indoors in September.

Direct sow in October:

• Bush beans and lima beans, while soil is still warm enough for fast germination
• Carrots and beets, sown by mid-month as soil approaches 75°F
• Radishes and turnips, which germinate across a wide soil temperature range

Set out transplants in October:

• Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kohlrabi
• Bok choy and collard greens

Hold winter squash and pumpkins until the first week of October at the latest. Both need 55 to 100 days to maturity and Zone 10a’s day length starts dropping fast enough by November to slow fruit set.

What to Plant in Zone 10a in November and December

By mid-November, soil temperature in most Zone 10a locations settles into the 65 to 72°F band, the sweet spot for the crops that struggle in October’s residual heat. This is the core sowing window.

Direct sow in November and December:

• Lettuce, spinach, and arugula, now that soil is reliably under 75°F
• Peas, which stall above 70°F soil but germinate well from 65 to 70°F
• Swiss chard, kale, mustard greens, and sorrel

Plant in November:

• Garlic and bulb onions. Zone 10a’s chill-hour accumulation is low, so stick to short-day onion varieties and softneck garlic; long-day types and hardneck garlic won’t bulb reliably here
• Scallions, parsnips, and celery transplants

Many Zone 10a gardeners also get a second tomato and pepper crop going in November. With no reliable frost date, a transplant set out by Thanksgiving has a realistic shot at a late-winter harvest before summer heat returns in April.

What to Plant in Zone 10a in January

Soil temperature holds in the low-to-mid 60s°F through January in most Zone 10a locations, occasionally dipping into the upper 50s°F after a cold front moves through. That’s still within range for succession sowing of the same cool-season crops started in November.

Direct sow in January:

• A second round of carrots, beets, and radishes
• Lettuce and spinach, succession-sown every two to three weeks for a continuous harvest
• Snap peas, for a harvest before heat shuts pea production down in March

January is also when to start warm-season seeds indoors (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) for transplanting out in late February, once the risk of a rare January cold snap has passed.

Zone 10a Winter Garden Care

Zone 10a’s winter care list is short because the crops in the ground are already suited to the conditions. Three things do need attention.

Watch for radiational cold snaps. A clear, still night can drop temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below the daytime high, occasionally into the low 30s°F even in a zone where that’s rare. Keep row cover on hand for tender transplants (peppers, eggplant, young tomato sets) during a cold front. The crops that make up most of this season’s planting list, lettuce, brassicas, and root vegetables, tolerate that dip without protection.

Manage humidity-driven disease pressure. Cooler air combined with Zone 10a’s typical winter humidity creates good conditions for downy mildew on brassicas and leaf spot on lettuce. Space plants for airflow and water at the soil line rather than overhead.

Keep up pest scouting. Aphids and whiteflies don’t go dormant in Zone 10a the way they do farther north. Check the undersides of brassica and lettuce leaves weekly through the whole October-to-January window.

For the matching guide one zone warmer, see the Zone 10b fall and winter planting guide, and for how this window fits the broader warm-zone fall calendar, see what to sow in zones 8 through 11. If you’re planning next summer’s melon patch while this season’s beds are still filling in, the watermelon and cantaloupe variety guide covers short-season picks that fit the gap between this planting window and the spring one.

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