Waco Planting Guide: October

Some cilantro I grew in October

 Herbs and veggies to plant this month:   
It's the last fall month to plant items in bold.  If a bolded item is grey that means the best two guides for this area, the Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guide (AG) and the The Central Texas Community Gardening Guide (CTG) differ on whether this is the last month to plant this season.   

START SEEDS OUTDOORS:

• Arugula 
• Beets (by Oct 15)
• Carrots (CTG said stop planting after Sept 15, AG plant through Nov 10)
• Celery
• Chives** (see note)
• Cilantro***
• Collards (by Oct 10)
• Garlic +
• Onion** (see note)
• Lettuce, Leaf (AG says by Oct 15, CTG says by October 31)
• Mustard Greens 
• Parsley (by Oct 10)
• Raddish
• Shallots (sets)**
• Spinach +
• Squash, summer (by Sept 10 according to AG, but CTG says only translpant in fall)
• Turnips (AG says plant by Nov 1, but CTG says you can plan through Nov 15)

PLANT INDOORS TO TRANSPLANT LATER

• Celery (transplant in November)

TRANSPLANT

• Kale (CTG says Oct 31 is last day to plant, but AG says transplant through Dec)
• Leeks (by Oct 15)
• Lettuce, head (by Oct 15)
• Bok Choi/Pak Choi (by Oct 31)
• Flowering Cabbage (Oct - Dec)

 Most of the info for this month's planting guide came from The Central Texas Community Gardening Guide (CTG)  or the Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guides (AG) (the original page is now down from the site, but has been archived by the Way Back Machine).   Some info also came from Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which are marked with ** (and has a note below), since these may be less localized to our region.   Sometimes I also find info on a Central Texas blog, and those are linked directly.

**Month to Month Gardening in Texas says that the last date to plant onion, leeks, and shallots is Oct 1.   The Aggie says in our zone we have til November 1. I've planted onions and chives, both seeds and onion sets, all through the fall in Waco, and had them survive all through the winter. 

***I am not using any gardening guide for this.  I personally planted cilantro in Waco starting in October and going all through the winter.   Any time it warms up it will bolt but because the weather is generally cooling, you at least have longer windows before that happens.