What to Plant in Your Fall Vegetable Garden in the Bay Area

If you're used to thinking of fall as the end of the gardening year, the Bay Area has good news for you. Our mild winters mean October and November are some of the best months to plant vegetables. The soil is still warm, the rains are on their way, and cool-season crops love exactly the weather we're about to get.

At our urban homestead, the summer tomatoes and squash come out and the fall beds go in. Here's what we plant, and how to set your garden up for a harvest that carries you through winter and into spring.

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Garlic: Plant Now, Harvest in Summer

Garlic is the easiest "plant it and forget it" crop there is. Break a head into cloves, push each clove pointy-side up about 2 inches deep and 6 inches apart, and mulch. It grows slowly all winter and you'll harvest in early summer when the lower leaves turn brown.

In our mild climate, softneck garlic usually does better than hardneck, which prefers a real cold winter. Buy seed garlic rather than grocery store garlic, which is sometimes treated to keep it from sprouting.

Fava Beans and Peas

• Fava beans: Our favorite fall crop. They're tough, they add nitrogen to the soil, and their black-and-white flowers feed bees in late winter when not much else is blooming. Eat the beans in spring or cut the plants down and dig them in as a cover crop.
• Sugar snap and snow peas: Sow along a trellis or fence. Peas love cool weather and often produce right through winter here.

Leafy Greens

Greens are the backbone of a Bay Area winter garden. Sow seeds directly or tuck in transplants:

• Kale and Swiss chard: Pick the outer leaves and they'll keep producing for months.
• Lettuce, arugula, and spinach: Sow a short row every two to three weeks for a steady supply instead of a glut.
• Bok choy and mustard greens: Fast growers, often ready in a month or so.

Broccoli, Cabbage, and Cauliflower

These cabbage-family crops take a while to mature, so we buy them as transplants from the nursery instead of starting from seed this late. Set them out in October and you'll be cutting broccoli heads in winter. Once you harvest the main broccoli head, leave the plant in; it'll keep making smaller side shoots.

Root Vegetables

• Carrots and beets: Sow directly; they don't like to be transplanted. Keep the seedbed moist until they sprout.
• Radishes: Ready in about a month. Great for impatient gardeners and kids.
• Turnips: Eat both the roots and the greens.
• Onions: Plant short-day onion sets or transplants for a late spring harvest.

Herbs That Prefer Cool Weather

Cilantro and parsley bolt quickly in summer heat but thrive in our cool, damp winters. Sow them now and you'll have fresh herbs all season. Dill does well too.

Tips for a Thriving Fall Garden

• Feed the soil. Summer crops are hungry. Work in a few inches of compost before you plant.
• Mulch. A layer of straw or shredded leaves holds moisture and keeps weeds down.
• Let the rain help, but don't count on it yet. Keep watering seedlings until the rains are reliably here.
• Watch for snails and slugs. Wet weather brings them out. Go hunting with a flashlight after dark or set out a pet-safer iron phosphate bait.
• Keep frost cloth handy. Frost is rare in much of the Bay Area, but a light frost cloth protects tender seedlings on the occasional cold night.
• Let a few plants flower. When your kale, arugula, or broccoli bolts in late winter, leave a few plants. Their flowers are an early food source for bees.

Plan Your Beds

Keeping track of what you planted where (and when) makes next season so much easier. Our Zone 9 Garden Planner & Tracker is a printable planner made for climates like ours, with planting calendars and space to log your harvests.

Planting flowers too? See What to Plant in October for Happy Bees Next Spring.