Zone 10 - What to Plant in September

Zone 10 - What to Plant in September

September is one of the best months to start gardening in Zone 10. You're just past the dog days of summer and the weather is starting to cool down a bit. The typical first frost in Zone 10 is mid-late December but even then it can be very mild. This allows for easy winter growing of several crops. Below is a list of items that can be planted in zone 10 in September.

The Outredegeous Lettuce is a deep, dark purple red romaine that will maintain its dark color even under low-light conditions! This mesmerizing variety is a wonderful baby leaf type and large loose leaf type, making it the perfect lettuce for salad growers. You can start using its leaves after 28 days. Outredegeous seeds are a natural mix of black and white.

Red Cored Chantenay carrots are a vibrant variety known for their distinct color and shape. They feature a deep orange skin that transitions to a striking red core, creating a visually appealing contrast. The carrots have a stout, conical shape, tapering at the end, which makes them easy to harvest and handle. These carrots are celebrated for their sweet, rich flavor and crisp texture, making them ideal for both raw snacking and cooking. They’re versatile in the kitchen, lending themselves well to roasting, steaming, or incorporating into salads. Red Cored Chantenay carrots are also known for their high nutrient content, providing a good source of vitamins and minerals. Their unique coloration is not only attractive but also indicates a high level of antioxidants, contributing to their health benefits.

The Snow Crown cauliflower is a delicious, mild and sweet hybrid. This cauliflower's head will get to 7-8 inches across and 1-2 pounds. The Snow Crown is extra early and adaptable and can be harvested in summer or fall. Be careful not to under-fertilize or water, stress can cause a purplish discoloration on the undersides of the head.

This refined, open-pollinated cabbage produces round, green heads wrapped around crisp, tender white hearts and has been a trusted favorite since at least the 1920s. Known for its very early maturity and compact growth habit, it is ideal for dense plantings and tight spacing while still delivering strong yields of uniform, marketable heads. The dense, solid heads are spherical, typically measuring 5–7 inches across and weighing about 3–5 pounds, with plants remaining relatively small compared to head size. Fresh, the flavor is delicately crunchy with a pleasant bite, while cooking mellows it to a rich, buttery taste. Well suited for coleslaw, stir-fries, and other fresh kitchen uses, this variety shines as an early fresh-market cabbage rather than a long-term storage type. Maturing in about 65 days, it is an excellent choice for serious cabbage growers seeking high quality and reliability.

The red veined Red Tabby Spinach has beautiful tender smooth leaves. This variety is an excellent baby leaf spinach that does well in spring, fall and winter. Its uniform, smooth leaves grow straight and upright. Red Tabby is also resistant to downy mildew races 1-13.

Waltham 29 broccoli seeds produce a classic, open-pollinated variety that was developed in the early 20th century by the University of Massachusetts at Waltham and has remained a trusted garden standard ever since. This variety forms large, deep blue-green central heads measuring 6–8" across on sturdy, cold-tolerant plants that typically reach 20–24" tall. Known for its reliability and adaptability, Waltham 29 performs especially well in cooler temperatures and is valued for its uniform growth and strong side-shoot production after the main head is harvested, resulting in generous yields over an extended period. It matures in about 74–85 days from transplant, making it well suited for spring and fall planting. The tightly packed florets have a tender texture and mild, slightly sweet flavor, excellent for fresh eating, steaming, freezing, and a wide range of culinary uses.

Thumbelina carrots are tender and sweet with no need to peel! It is the perfect bit size for fresh eating, stews and salads. Thumbelina's small size makes it a great choice for heavy or shallow soils or containers. No wonder it is an All-America Selections Winner from 1992!

An early maturing heirloom cabbage. Early Jersey Wakefield is an early variety of cabbage with pointed heads that resist splitting! A great home garden cabbage with great flavor!

Rouge D'Hiver Lettuce is a beautifully multicolored French heirloom romaine. This variety's green leaves are tinted with medium-red color at the tip. Rouge D'Hiver is not just beautiful, but it is also very tasty and very easy to grow. This lettuce is a home favorite for resisting heat and cold stress if well watered. This variety has been recently resurrected.

Snowball Y Improved cauliflower is a popular open pollinated variety! This cauliflower is known for its vigorous, rapid growth and long harvest. Its head is snow-white and measures 7-8" inches across. Give this cauliflower fertile soil, full sun and steady moisture and you'll be rewarded with large, delicious heads that are high in vitamin C.

The Gourmet Mesclun Blend is a colorful mixture of our favorite gourmet leaves! This blend offers a pleasing mix of colors and types of lettuce that are delicious together in a salad. The Gourmet Mesclun Blend is also great for baby leaf production.

The Red Sails Lettuce is a full rosette type that produces radiant bronze-red, ruffled and deeply lobed leaves that have a mild bitter-free flavor that pairs very well in salads. This slow-bolting lettuce is ready to cut early and holds its quality very well. Red Sails has six times the vitamin A and three times the vitamin C as other supermarket lettuces. This variety thrives in cool weather, but can also grow well in the spring, summer or fall.