WHAT TO PLANT IN
October

Southern Interior Region

“Pick a sunny afternoon – one of those sharp, bright days that only fall brings. Pull out a lawn chair, and set it down right smack dab in the middle of your garden. Lie back and relax, and think about all the beauty and success your garden has given you this year.”

Susan Sides, Putting the Garden to Bed

Issue #113, September-October 1988

To read more about what to plant in other months and regions, visit our What to Plant Now home page.

For planting times specific to your zip code, check out the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Vegetable Garden Planner. 

Top Crops for Southern Interior Gardening:

Here are the Top Ten crops for the Southern Interior region, followed by other recommended crops, as rated in our National Survey of Most Productive Garden Crops. (The criteria for selection include ease of culture, efficient use of garden space and time, ease of storage and desirability at the table.) The recommended crops are sorted by plant family to help you plan rotations so that the same plant families are not grown consecutively in the same area, as much as possible.

Top 10 Crops: Southern Interior

1. Sweet pepper
2. Slicing tomato
3. Bush snap bean
4. Summer squash
5. Broccoli
6. Garlic
7. Bulb onion
8. Pole snap bean
9. Cherry tomato
10. Hot pepper

Other Highly Recommended Crops:

Cabbage family:  Cabbage, collards, kale 

Cucumber family: Cantaloupe, watermelon, winter squash 

Leafy greens:  Arugula, chard, lettuce, mache, mustard (all types), pac choi, sorrel, spinach, turnip greens 

Legumes:  Asparagus/yard-long bean, bush lima bean, dry soup beans, edamame, pole beans, snow/snap and shell peas 

Root crops:  Potato, radish, rutabaga, shallot, sunchoke, sweet potato 

Tomato family:  Eggplant, tomatillo

Miscellaneous:  Asparagus, okra, rhubarb, scallion, sweet corn 

VEGETABLES AND HERBS 

Sow Indoors   

Sow Outdoors  

Transplant 

Crimson Clover