What to Plant in Zone 10b in October & November

September 08, 2026

Why Zone 10b Has a Second Season

Zone 10b covers the warmest slice of the map: South Florida, the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, coastal Southern California, and parts of Hawaii. The USDA average annual minimum temperature for the zone is 35 to 40°F, and in most of these locations that minimum shows up once or twice a decade, not every winter. For a Zone 10b garden, “frost date” is closer to a formality than a planning tool.

The real constraint isn’t frost, it’s soil temperature. Zone 10b soil holds in the 85 to 95°F range through August and much of September, and that heat is what stalls germination in cool-season crops: lettuce and spinach both drop below 50 percent germination once soil passes roughly 80°F. October is when soil temperatures in Zone 10b typically fall into the 65 to 75°F band, the window where cool-season seed actually sprouts. That’s the second season: the first stretch since spring where cool-season and warm-season crops can share a bed. For the full month-by-month breakdown for your specific corner of Zone 10b, our regional growing guides work through soil temperature and sowing windows in more detail than one post can cover.

Because Zone 10b rarely sees a hard freeze, the frost-date math that drives planting in colder zones doesn’t apply the same way here. Back-time sowing instead from the first fall soil-cooling trend and the last realistic heat spike, which in most Zone 10b locations lands in early October. For how frost dates work across zones generally, see our first frost date guide. For the year-round calendar this post builds on, start with the zone 10b planting guide.

Vegetables to Sow in October

Early October, while soil is still cooling through the upper 70s and low 80s°F:

1. Bush beans: sow by Oct 15. This is the last realistic bean window before longer cool nights slow pod set.
2. Cucumbers: sow by Oct 10 for a fall crop that beats any November cool snap.
3. Summer squash: sow by Oct 10, same logic as cucumbers.

Mid-to-late October, once soil settles into the 65 to 75°F range:

1. Broccoli and cauliflower transplants: set out by Oct 20.
2. Carrots: sow by Oct 31. Thin early since Zone 10b’s warm nights push top growth faster than root development at first.
3. Beets and radishes: sow by Oct 31.
4. Lettuce and spinach: sow by Oct 31. For most Zone 10b gardens this is the first reliable direct-sow window for greens all year.

Care Tips: October

Cut back irrigation frequency as evapotranspiration drops with the heat, but don’t cut volume: Zone 10b soil at 6 inches is still warm enough to dry fast between waterings. Watch newly transplanted brassicas for fall armyworm, which stays active in Zone 10b well past the point where colder zones lose it to frost. Row cover isn’t for temperature here, it’s for insect exclusion on direct-sown greens until they get their second set of true leaves.

Vegetables to Sow in November

Early November:

1. Garlic: sow by Nov 15. Zone 10b calls for softneck, low-chill varieties, since the hard freezes that trigger hardneck bulbing don’t happen here. See our garlic planting guide for variety-specific dates.
2. Short-day onions: sow or transplant by Nov 15.
3. Carrots, beets, radishes, and spinach: succession-sow by Nov 15 to extend the October window into a second round.

Mid-to-late November:

1. Peas: sow by Nov 30.
2. Kale, bok choy, and mustard greens: sow by Nov 30.
3. Lettuce: succession-sow by Nov 30 alongside the peas and kale for continuous harvest.
4. Strawberry crowns: plant by Nov 30 for a late-winter into spring harvest.

Care Tips: November

Zone 10b won’t see a hard freeze most years, but radiational cooling on clear, still nights can still drop temperatures 10 to 15 degrees below the forecast low, enough to stress young transplants even without frost. Keep row cover on hand for anything set out in the first two weeks of November. For the fuller arc from fall into winter in Zone 10b, our zone 10b fall and winter planting guide picks up where this post’s sow-by dates leave off.

Zone 10b October and November Sow-By Dates

Vegetable	Sow By (October)	Sow By (November)	Soil Temp for Germination
Bush beans	Oct 15	-	65-85°F
Cucumbers	Oct 10	-	70-95°F
Summer squash	Oct 10	-	70-95°F
Broccoli, cauliflower (transplant)	Oct 20	-	45-85°F
Carrots	Oct 31	Nov 15	45-85°F
Beets	Oct 31	Nov 15	50-85°F
Radishes	Oct 31	Nov 15	45-85°F
Lettuce	Oct 31	Nov 30	40-70°F
Spinach	Oct 31	Nov 15	45-75°F
Garlic	-	Nov 15	50-70°F
Short-day onions	-	Nov 15	50-75°F
Peas	-	Nov 30	45-75°F
Kale, bok choy, mustard	-	Nov 30	45-85°F
Strawberry crowns	-	Nov 30	soil, not air: 60-80°F

Sow-by dates assume typical Zone 10b conditions. Coastal microclimates and inland pockets within the zone can run a week or two ahead or behind; adjust against your own soil temperature reading rather than the calendar alone.

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