What to Plant in October: European Vegetable Garden Guide
What to plant in October across Europe: the garlic, overwintering onions and broad beans to get in now, plus the jobs that close the season well.
October is the month the garden changes hands. The summer beds are empty or emptying, the soil still holds enough warmth to grow roots, and almost everything that goes in now is planted for next year rather than this one. Knowing what to plant in October is mostly about picking the crops that use the cold instead of fighting it: garlic, overwintering onions, hardy beans, and the winter salads that sit quietly under cover until the light returns.
This guide covers what still goes in the ground in October across European climate zones, the one crop that defines the month, and the autumn jobs that decide how well your beds start next season.
What to Plant in October, Zone by Zone
October splits Europe three ways. In Atlantic Cfb zones the month stays mild and wet, which gives a long, forgiving window for garlic, onion sets and autumn-sown broad beans. In continental Dfb zones the first real frosts arrive during October, so planting moves to the front half of the month and sowing all but stops. In Mediterranean Csa zones this is the best sowing month of the year: the soil is warm, the sun has softened and the autumn rain is back, so nearly the full winter vegetable range can go straight into open ground.
| Region / climate | Planting window | Key October jobs |
|---|---|---|
| Atlantic (Cfb) | The whole month | Garlic and onion sets, autumn broad beans, winter salads under cloches, bare-root planting from late October |
| Continental (Dfb) | First half | Garlic before the ground chills, the last green manure, clearing and mulching beds, planting fruit bushes |
| Mediterranean (Csa) | The whole month | Full winter sowing: broad beans, peas, spinach, chard, lettuce, carrots, brassica transplants |
If you are not sure where your garden sits, our European climate zones guide explains how to find your zone and what it means for sowing windows.
What Still Goes in the Ground
October planting is dominated by things that establish roots now and grow later. Get them in while the soil is still workable, and give anything leafy a cloche or cold frame in colder zones.
| Crop | Sow / plant | Zone notes |
|---|---|---|
| Garlic | Cloves | The main October planting everywhere; Dfb gardens plant in the first half. |
| Overwintering onions | Sets | Cfb and Csa; early October gives bulbs weeks ahead of spring sets. |
| Shallots | Sets | Mild zones only; autumn planting builds bigger clumps. |
| Broad beans | Direct sow | Cfb and Csa: hardy varieties for an early, aphid-dodging spring crop. |
| Winter peas | Direct sow | Cfb and Csa; sow under cloches for the earliest picking. |
| Lamb's lettuce | Direct sow | First half of the month, under cover in colder zones. |
| Winter lettuce and land cress | Transplant | Cold frame, cloche or polytunnel plants for winter leaves. |
| Spinach and chard | Direct sow | Csa mainly; Cfb in the first week under cover. |
| Spring cabbage | Transplant | Cfb: the last chance to settle plants before the cold. |
| Rhubarb crowns | Dormant crowns | Plant while the soil is still warm; leave asparagus until spring. |
| Bare-root fruit bushes and trees | Bare root | From late October, once the plants are dormant. |
| Green manure | Direct sow | First half of October, and only the winter-hardy species. |
Most of these are cold-tolerant rather than genuinely frost-proof, so if you want crops that stand outside all winter, our guide to winter vegetables covers which ones take real frost and which need cover.
Garlic Is October's Headline Crop
If you plant one thing this month, plant garlic. Garlic needs a cold spell of several weeks to split into a proper multi-clove bulb, which is why an autumn planting almost always beats a spring one on size. October gives cloves enough warm soil to root before winter without pushing much top growth.
Plant single cloves about 5 cm deep and 15 cm apart, in rows 30 cm apart, pointed end up, in a bed that has not carried onions or leeks recently. Use certified seed garlic from a garden supplier rather than supermarket bulbs, which are often treated to stop sprouting and may carry disease. Hardneck varieties suit continental winters, softneck types do better in mild Atlantic and Mediterranean gardens. Our comparison of autumn and spring garlic goes through the trade-off in detail.
Plant into soil, not mud
October ground can go from workable to sodden in a single week. Plant garlic and onion sets while the bed still crumbles in your hand. On heavy soil, plant on a slight ridge so the cloves sit above winter wet, or start them in modules and set the plants out in November.
Close the Season While You Plant
The other half of October is tidying, and it matters as much as the planting.
- Cover every bed you clear. Bare winter soil erodes and leaches nutrients. Sow a winter-hardy green manure in the first half of the month, or mulch with compost if it is too late to germinate a crop.
- Lift and store the last roots. Maincrop potatoes, beetroot and carrots come out before heavy frost; store them dry, dark and cool.
- Bring tender herbs under cover. Pot up basil, tender rosemary and young bay before the first frost and move them to a windowsill or cold greenhouse.
- Save the leaves. Fallen leaves stacked in a wire bin or bagged and left damp turn into leaf mould, the cheapest soil conditioner in the garden.
- Sketch next year while the beds are visible. October is the easiest month to see what grew where, so it is the right moment to set up next season's crop rotation.
Common October Mistakes
- Planting garlic into waterlogged ground. Cloves sitting in cold, wet soil rot instead of rooting. Wait for a dry spell or plant on a ridge.
- Using supermarket garlic. It is often a variety unsuited to your climate and can carry disease into the bed.
- Sowing green manure too late. After mid-October only rye reliably germinates in cooler zones. Later than that, mulch instead.
- Autumn-sowing broad beans in continental gardens. In Dfb winters, autumn beans usually fail. Save them for a February or March sowing.
- Leaving beds bare because the season feels over. An uncovered bed loses structure and nutrients over five cold months.
Plan Your October Garden With Plantory
October is the month that quietly decides next summer. With Plantory you can map where the garlic and overwintering onions go and keep them out of last year's allium bed, set reminders for planting, mulching and lifting, plan the green manure on every bed you clear, and carry this year's layout straight into next season's plan. Work out what to plant in October once, and the rest of the autumn follows on its own.