What to Plant in October and November for a Winter Harvest

October is when most vegetable gardens look finished, and it is also when a few crops quietly do their best work. The catch is that "winter harvest" covers three very different things, and only one of them involves sowing seed now and eating it in January. This guide sorts what you can still plant in October and November into crops that will feed you this winter, crops you plant now for a spring or summer harvest, and crops you can grow indoors once the ground has had enough. Timing is given for warm-winter US gardens, cold-winter US gardens and the UK.

Three Kinds of "Winter Harvest"

Gardeners searching for what to plant in October and November are usually picturing a January salad picked from the garden. That is possible, but it depends heavily on where you live. It helps to separate the three things people mean.

Most of this article is about the second row, because it is the dependable one. The first row is real but narrow, and the reason why comes down to daylight.

The 10-Hour Rule: Why Frost Dates Don't Tell the Whole Story

Frost dates tell you when plants get hurt. They do not tell you when plants stop growing, and for winter gardening the second date matters more. Most vegetables need about 10 hours of daylight to grow actively. When days drop below that, growth slows to a crawl even if the weather is mild. Eliot Coleman gave this stretch of short days the name "Persephone days", and growers now plan around it.

The dates vary with latitude. Nebraska's extension office in Lincoln puts the short-day period at November 11 to January 31. North Carolina extension describes it as late November to early February. A grower in Central Oregon puts its start in the second week of November. In Alaska it begins around mid-October.

The planning rule that comes out of this is blunt. Crops need to be close to full size before the short days begin if you want to harvest through fall and winter, and at least about 75 percent mature if they are going to overwinter and hold. Most fall vegetables need 60 to 90 days from planting to harvest, which is why cold-climate winter gardens are sown from mid-August to mid-September. Nebraska extension also suggests adding 10 to 14 days to the packet's days-to-maturity, because growth slows as autumn progresses.

That is the honest reason "sow in October, eat in December" works in warm-winter regions and mostly fails further north. A November sowing in a cold climate usually germinates slowly, if at all, then sits. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh notes that most seeds will not germinate in winter, with hardy broad beans and peas as the exceptions.

Your October and November Planting Window, by Region

The table below pulls together extension and RHS guidance. Treat it as a window, not a promise. Your local extension office, or the RHS for UK readers, will know your last workable date better than any table can. If you are also getting a frost forecast, our guide to protecting your garden from the first frost covers the cover-up side.

Garlic: The One Crop That Wants a Cold Start

Garlic runs on the opposite schedule from most vegetables. It needs a cold period to form cloves, which is why it goes in now and is harvested the following summer. The University of Vermont warns that spring-planted garlic is likely to give a small single bulb without cloves, and Maryland extension says spring planting cannot produce enough foliage for large bulbs. The aim in autumn is to give each clove time to root, without so much top growth that a hard freeze burns it, a point Kentucky extension makes directly.

1. Buy seed garlic, not supermarket bulbs. Both extension services and the RHS advise against grocery-store garlic, which is often a softneck type chosen for storage and may not suit your climate or be disease-free. Hardneck types handle cold winters best, with fewer, larger cloves, a flower stalk (scape) in spring and a shorter storage life. Softneck types suit milder winters, with more cloves and a longer storage life.
2. Pick a free-draining, sunny spot. Avoid beds where onions, garlic or leeks grew in the last two to three years. Heavy, wet soil is the main risk. Kentucky extension suggests raised beds, and the RHS recommends starting cloves in modules in a cold frame when the soil is heavy and wet over winter.
3. Feed the soil first. Work in compost or composted manure before planting, as North Dakota State and Garden City Harvest both advise.
4. Split the head just before planting. Keep the papery skin on each clove and plant the biggest ones. Save the small ones for the kitchen.
5. Plant pointed end up, about 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) apart. The RHS gives 4 to 6 inches between cloves, Maryland gives 3 to 6, and California extension gives 6. Planting depth is where sources disagree: roughly an inch in mild UK guidance from the RHS, 2 inches in southern California, and 3 to 4 inches in colder North Dakota. Colder winters call for deeper planting plus mulch.
6. Mulch right away. Garden City Harvest recommends 4 to 6 inches of straw or straw and leaves, and the University of Illinois suggests 6 to 8 inches in its cold climate. In spring, pull the mulch back as shoots emerge. In a wet spring, Vermont extension advises pulling it away if the soil stays saturated.

After planting, the main job is watching for disturbance. The RHS suggests checking for cloves pulled up by birds or other animals and pushing them back in. Harvest comes the following summer: around early July in central Maryland, where fall-planted garlic needs 250 to 270 days, and from late spring to early summer for UK autumn plantings, according to the RHS.

Overwintering Broad (Fava) Beans, Peas and Onions

These three share a logic. They go in as small seed, cloves or sets in autumn, sit through winter, then take off as soon as the light and warmth return. They produce the earliest vegetables of the year. They are also the crops that punish wet soil, so drainage matters more than the thermometer.

Broad (fava) beans

Oregon State's PNW 548 table lists fava beans as tolerating roughly 15 to 20°F. The university's vegetable breeder Jim Myers is frank that winter planting is a gamble that pays off in mild winters and fails in harsh ones, though good years can mean fava beans or kale by March. In the UK, the RHS names 'Aquadulce Claudia' as the best variety for autumn sowing and overwintering, and notes that sowing in October or November is possible in milder areas and sheltered sites with well-drained soil.

• Sow seeds about 2 inches (5 cm) deep and 8 inches (20 cm) apart, according to the RHS Plants listing for 'Aquadulce Claudia'.
• Protect against mice and slugs, and use a cloche in the worst weather.
• After cropping, cut plants at ground level and leave the roots in the soil, where they release nitrogen for next year's crops.
• Skip heavy clay. The Irish GIY seed guide warns that early autumn broad beans do not fare well in wet, heavy soil.

Hardy peas

University of California guidance for Ventura County lists peas for planting from October to February, sown directly rather than transplanted. In the UK, Gardeners' World recommends sowing first early peas such as 'Meteor' and 'Kelvedon Wonder' in autumn to overwinter for early-spring harvests.

Overwintering onions

In the UK, the RHS says autumn-planted overwintering (Japanese) onion sets are ready in June and July and are less sensitive to cold, which would otherwise cause bolting. Plant sets about three-quarters of an inch (2 cm) deep with the tip just showing. Oregon State's PNW 548 table gives October to November for overwintering onion transplants in the Pacific Northwest, with harvest from April to June.

Birds tend to pull up newly planted sets, and the RHS advises protecting them with netting or fleece until they have rooted. That is where a floating row cover earns its keep.

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Agfabric Floating Row Cover (Frost Blanket)

A lightweight spun fabric you drape over hoops or directly over a bed. It keeps newly set onion sets and fresh sowings from being pulled up by birds, and adds a few degrees of frost protection in a cold snap. Agfabric sells several weights, and for autumn the heavier 0.9 oz option is the one to look at. Makers of comparable 0.9 oz covers, such as Agribon's AG-30, quote roughly 4 to 6°F of added protection, so treat any row cover as help for a cold snap, not a hard freeze. Check the listing for the exact size and weight before ordering.

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Hardy Greens: A Short October Window

Oregon State lists vegetables that can take a heavy frost below 28°F, including spinach, kale, collards, arugula, corn salad (mâche), radish, mustard greens, turnip, fava beans, onions, garlic and leeks. Hardy, though, does not mean fast. The leafy crops that suit late sowing are slow in autumn, so the realistic goal in a cold climate is a small, established plant that holds through winter under cover and resumes growth when the days lengthen.

Add 10 to 14 days to those figures for autumn conditions, as Nebraska extension advises. A claytonia sowing made on October 1 would reach first picking in early December at the earliest, and only in a region where plants are still growing then. Elsewhere, expect a small plant that sits until spring.

A few habits improve the odds:

• Check soil temperature rather than guessing. A basic soil thermometer, such as the inexpensive dial or digital models made by Luster Leaf and Taylor, tells you whether the bed is inside the seed's range.
• Prepare the bed one to two weeks ahead and let it settle, and soak seed overnight before sowing, both tips from Nebraska extension.
• Sow under cover. A cold frame or a hooped row cover keeps rain off the plants and holds a little warmth. Our guide to cold frames, low tunnels and row covers explains the setups, and the guide to cold-hardy vegetables to grow in winter covers what survives once plants are established.
• Harvest lightly. Cut leaves rather than pulling plants, and avoid taking more than about a third at a time.

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Fiskars Pruning Snips

For small cut-and-come-again leaves like claytonia and mâche, a pair of sharp snips gives a clean cut about an inch above the crown, which helps the plant resprout. The same snips are useful next spring for trimming garlic scapes. Check the listing to confirm the exact model before ordering.

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When the Ground Says No: Windowsill and Pot Options

Past the point where outdoor sowing makes sense, a tray indoors is the way to keep something growing. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh notes that leftover seed of broccoli, basil, celery and rocket can be sprouted on a windowsill for microgreens. Gardens Illustrated suggests cut-and-come-again salad leaves and microgreens on a windowsill or greenhouse shelf in November.

For something more dramatic, force chicory. The RHS advises digging up chicory roots in November, removing the foliage, potting them up and placing them in a dark, warm place. The pale chicons appear in three to six weeks.

If you want more than a tray, our guide to indoor growing kits for vegetables year-round covers the next step up.

Mistakes That Waste a November

• Sowing full-size crops and expecting a winter harvest. Broccoli, cabbage heads and carrots sown now in a cold climate will not reach size before the short days. Leave them for spring.
• Planting garlic too early or too late. Too early and the shoots get tall before the freeze. Too late and the ground is frozen or the cloves lack time to root. Aim for the window in your region.
• Planting grocery-store garlic. Extension sources and the RHS flag it as a poor choice for many climates.
• Ignoring drainage. Washington State University describes winter rain and wet soil, which suffocate roots and rot crowns, as a more serious threat than cold in the Pacific Northwest. Raised beds or modules help.
• Skipping the mulch on garlic. Mulch is what carries cloves through a hard winter in cold climates.
• Leaving new sowings and sets unprotected. The RHS recommends guarding new sowings against mice and brassicas against pigeons, and protecting onion sets from birds until rooted.
• Replanting alliums where alliums grew. Rotate garlic and onions away from beds that held them in the last two to three years.

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