Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. If you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I genuinely use or believe are helpful for beginners.
October always feels like a pause in the garden. The days are still warm enough to work outside, but the nights have cooled and the light has that soft, golden quality I love in the evenings. I just finished harvesting the last of my juicy summer peaches, and now the apples are taking the spot light—ready to pick this month.
This time of year reminds me that the garden doesn’t have to look perfect or be in full bloom all the time. Summer annuals are dying back, the trees are letting go of their leaves, and my focus is shifting. Instead of pushing for more growth, I’m cleaning beds, feeding the soil, and getting ready for the rains and the cooler months ahead. It’s a quieter, more thoughtful season, and I always look forward to it.
THE CALENDAR TASKS AND CHORES FOR OCTOBER
Garden Maintenance
- Clean out spent flower and vegetable beds to discourage diseases and pests from overwintering.
- Rake leaves from ditches and pathways so rainwater can flow freely.
- Remove all rotten or fallen fruit from the orchard to help prevent blights and pests.
- Reprogram drip irrigation timers for cooler weather and expected rain (reduce frequency significantly).
- Update your garden journal—note what worked, what didn’t, and which fall-color plants you’d like to add next year.
- Mulch or mow leaves on the lawn and add them to the compost pile (or start a new one).
- Apply a thick layer of compost to enrich beds for spring planting.
- Mulch around bulbs and tubers left in the ground.
- Deadhead spent flowers to tidy beds and encourage any remaining blooms.
- Lift and store tender tuberous begonias if frost is expected.
- Lift and divide overcrowded perennials such as phlox and asters.
- Cover compost bins with a tarp once the rains begin so they don’t become waterlogged.
- Clean out birdhouses and feeders.
- Cut old berry canes and tie new canes to support wires (old canes are easy to spot now as they turn brown).
- Finish light pruning of fruit trees after the last fruit is harvested (save major structural pruning for winter dormancy).
- Protect citrus and other frost-sensitive plants from early cold snaps—have frost cloth or covers ready.
- Check and clean tools before putting them away for the season.
- Harvest any remaining summer crops (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant) before the first heavy rains.
Fertilize
- Established lawns (if still growing actively).
- Indoor plants.
- Persimmons and pomegranates before they go fully dormant.
- Chrysanthemums (if still blooming).
- Spring-blooming shrubs, perennials, trees, and bulbs with a phosphorus-rich fertilizer such as bone meal, fish bone meal, or superphosphate to support root development and next year’s flowers.
Spray
- Apply the first dormant spray to stone fruit trees once most leaves have fallen.
- Spray citrus with copper for brown rot, paying special attention to lower branches and the ground under the tree.
- Spray cane berries with copper before the winter rains arrive.
What to Plant in October
Cooler weather and the start of the rainy season make this one of the best months for planting. The next couple of months are ideal for transplanting trees, shrubs, and especially California natives, which establish well with winter rains.
- Plant acorns for new oak trees (they benefit from a cold treatment period). Ever wonder why squirrels bury nuts and seeds? It often works out that forgotten acorns grow into new trees.
- Install drought-tolerant shrubs and perennials such as barberry, ceanothus, dogwood, iris, fremontia, manzanitas, Oregon grape, penstemon, redbud, rock rose, smoke tree, and toyon.
- Plant spring-blooming bulbs (you still have a couple of months). Daffodils, crocus, and many others can go in now; tulips and hyacinths often perform better if pre-chilled for several weeks before planting in November or December in warmer microclimates.
- Direct-seed cool-season flowers such as cornflowers, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, lupine, columbine, portulaca, sweet peas, garden peas, and stock.
- Sow wildflower seeds for spring and summer color (California poppies, lupine, and native mixes do especially well when seeded before the rains).
- Continue setting out cool-weather bedding plants such as calendula, pansy, snapdragons, primrose, and viola.
Vegetables
- Plant garlic, onions, artichokes, and asparagus before frost. (October into November is prime time for garlic in Zone 9a—choose softneck varieties for the most reliable results.)
- Direct-seed beets, bok choy, spinach, peas, mustard, radishes, and other quick cool-season crops.
- Transplant seedlings of spinach, lettuce, chard, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and sugar peas.
- In warmer elevations, potatoes can still be planted through March.
Lawns
- This is a good time to reseed bare spots.
- Consider reducing or removing lawn areas to conserve water.
Cover Crops
- Seed cover crops for erosion control on slopes.
- Plant clover or fava beans in vegetable beds to improve soil structure and add nitrogen over winter.
What are you planting this fall? Let me know in the comments.
