What to sow in October for the first crops of next year

October is mostly a planting month. Outdoors you can sow broad beans and hardy peas from the middle of the month, and plant garlic, shallots and the last of the overwintering onion sets. Under cover, sow winter lettuce and sweet peas.

It’s also when bare-root fruit bushes and canes start to come into garden centres and nurseries.

The timings below are for a typical lowland garden in England or Wales, where the first frost comes around the end of October. In Scotland, the north of England and frost pockets, the first frost can come weeks earlier, so do the outdoor sowing and planting early in the month and lean on cloches. In the south-west, near the coast and in cities, you’ll often have into November.

What to sow and plant in October

Crop	What to do	When in October	Notes
Garlic	Plant cloves	All month	2.5 cm deep, 15 cm apart, rows 30 cm apart
Onion sets	Plant overwintering sets	Until mid-month	10 cm apart, rows 30 cm apart, tip showing
Shallots	Plant sets	All month	20 cm apart, rows 30 cm apart
Broad beans	Sow outdoors	From mid-month	Aquadulce Claudia, 5 cm deep, 20 cm apart
Peas	Sow outdoors	From mid-month	Hardy round-seeded types, 4 cm deep
Garden cress	Sow outdoors	First few days	Quick crop before the cold sets in
Lettuce	Sow under cover	Until mid-month	Winter varieties, in a greenhouse or cold frame
Sweet peas	Sow under cover	All month	Deep pots in a cold frame
Spring cabbage	Plant out	Until mid-month	45 cm apart, firm in well
Rhubarb	Plant crowns	From mid-month	90 cm apart
Horseradish	Plant roots	All month	In a corner or a pot, as it spreads
Fruit bushes and canes	Plant bare-root	From mid-month	Currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries

Garlic, onions and shallots

Garlic is the main October job. It needs a cold spell to split into cloves, so planting now gives bigger bulbs than waiting until spring. Push cloves in pointed end up with the tip about 2.5 cm below the surface.

Overwintering onion sets should be in by mid-October so they root before the soil cools. Plant them with the tip just showing and put netting over them, as birds pull them out. Shallots can go in any time from early October to late November. On heavy, wet soil, plant all of these into a raised bed or a ridge of soil so they don’t sit in water.

Broad beans and peas

Broad beans sown from mid-October make small plants before winter and crop from around mid-May, weeks ahead of spring sowings. Aquadulce Claudia is the usual variety for this. Sow 5 cm deep, 20 cm apart, with 45 cm between rows.

Peas can also go in from mid-October. Choose a hardy round-seeded variety sold for autumn sowing, such as Meteor or Feltham First, rather than a wrinkled summer pea. Sow 4 cm deep and 7 cm apart, and put pea sticks or netting in at the same time. Peas are hardy to around -5 °C, which is less than broad beans, so a cloche over the row helps in a cold winter.

Mice are the big risk for both. If they’ve dug up sowings before, start them in pots or root trainers in a cold frame instead.

Under cover

In an unheated greenhouse, polytunnel or cold frame you can sow winter lettuce until mid-October. Choose a variety sold for winter growing and sow thinly, 0.5 cm deep. They grow slowly but give leaves through the colder months.

Sweet peas sown now, in deep pots in a cold frame, make sturdier plants and flower earlier next summer than spring sowings. Pinch out the tips when they’re about 10 cm tall.

Spring cabbage, rhubarb and perennials

Plant out spring cabbage by mid-October, 45 cm apart, and firm the soil around each one well with your heel. Net them, because pigeons go for brassicas in winter.

From mid-October you can plant rhubarb crowns, 90 cm apart, in a sunny spot with plenty of compost dug in. Don’t pick it in its first year. Horseradish can go in this month too, but grow it in a corner or a large pot, as any bit of root left in the ground regrows.

Bare-root currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries can be planted from mid-October until mid-December, whenever the soil isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Blueberries need acid soil or ericaceous compost in a pot.

What you’re likely to be picking

October is still a big harvest month. Most gardens will have:

• maincrop potatoes, which should all be lifted by the end of the month
• squash and pumpkins, cut before the first frost and left somewhere warm to cure for a couple of weeks so the skins harden
• carrots, beetroot, parsnips, celeriac and leeks
• kale, cabbage, chard and the first Brussels sprouts
• the last runner and French beans, courgettes and tomatoes before frost finishes them
• salad leaves, rocket and lamb’s lettuce

Parsnips and Brussels sprouts taste sweeter after a frost, so there’s no hurry with those.

Other jobs for October

1. Pick any green tomatoes before the first frost and ripen them indoors on a windowsill or in a drawer.
2. Clear spent crops, but leave the roots of peas and beans in the ground to release their nitrogen.
3. Mulch empty beds with compost or well-rotted manure, or cover them, so winter rain doesn’t wash nutrients out.
4. Collect fallen leaves in a bag or wire bin to make leaf mould.
5. Net brassicas against pigeons.
6. Get fleece and cloches out where you can find them, ready for the first frost.
7. Clean pots and seed trays while the weather is still mild.

The first frost date in your area makes a big difference to all of this. VegLog works it out for your own town and sends a frost alert when one is forecast.