October is when tomatoes move outside. Through most of the country, the tomato transplant window opens this month, the first time all year it's safe to plant seedlings out. In Northland and Auckland, tomatoes planted out in August are already producing their first ripe fruit. October is also a month of last calls: five spring crops close their sowing windows everywhere at the end of the month.

Quick Answer: Plant These Anywhere in NZ

Twenty crops are inside their planting window in every NZ growing zone this October.

Last month to sow:

  • Broad beans (sow August–October)
  • Kale (sow August–October)
  • Turnip (sow August–October)
  • Brussels sprouts (sow September–October)
  • Mustard greens (sow September–October)

Newly opened in the temperate and cool/mountain zones:

  • Cucumber (sow October–January there; open since August in the sub-tropical zone)

Still open: basil, beetroot, broccoli, carrot, coriander, lettuce, mizuna, pak choy, peas, radish, silverbeet and spinach, plus feijoa and lime trees (planting September–November).

All five last-call crops close at the end of October. If you miss them, you're waiting until next year. Turnip in particular dislikes summer heat, so this really is its last sensible window. Brussels sprouts and mustard greens sown in September move to transplanting now (October–November). Broccoli and kale seedlings can still go out too. Net all brassicas at planting — see White Butterfly and Cabbage Moth on NZ Brassicas.

Cucumber is frost-tender. The planting-window notes say to start seed in trays about a month before your last frost, plant out once frost risk has passed, and expect roughly 60–80 days from transplant to harvest.

The harvest broadens this month. Beetroot, radish and silverbeet all open their harvest windows in every zone. Coriander, mizuna, pak choy and turnip are cropping from earlier sowings, and lemon and orange carry on.

Not sure which zone you're in? The NZ frost dates guide covers it by town.

Sub-Tropical: Northland, Auckland and Coastal Taranaki

The frost season here ended in September, so October in the far north is about the summer crops and the first harvests.

Harvest payoff:

  • Garlic planted in March opens its harvest window this month (October–November).
  • Tomato harvest opens (October–May), the first fruit from June-sown trays. Temperate gardens won't pick tomatoes until December.
  • Tamarillo is still cropping until November.

Last calls: October is the end of the transplant window for tomato, capsicum and eggplant (August–October). Get any seedlings still in pots into the ground. Eggplant needs the longest warm run of the three, so a late transplant costs it the most. Jerusalem artichoke and yacon planting also closes this month.

Opening: Tamarillo gets its only sowing window of the year, October–December. The tamarillo growing guide covers the slow road to first fruit. Courgette, pumpkin, climbing beans and passionfruit all remain open for sowing, and basil, cucumber and passionfruit seedlings can be transplanted.

Temperate: Most of the Country

October brings the tomato, capsicum and eggplant transplant window (October–December). Frost season here runs until the end of November, though, so plant out after your own last frost, not on the strength of one warm week. A late frost can undo months of tray-raising in a single night. Harden seedlings off outside for a week or two first, and put stakes or cages in at planting rather than around an established plant.

Tomato, capsicum and eggplant can also still be sown in trays until November if you want a later batch. Courgette and pumpkin open next month.

Cool/Mountain: Central Otago, Queenstown and the Central Plateau

In cool/mountain gardens, the same tomato transplant window opens (October–December) and the same five crops close. The difference is at the other end of the season. Autumn frost returns as early as March here, so warm-season harvests are a month shorter. Tomato crops December–March here, against December–April in the temperate zone.

That makes timing matter more, not less:

  • Plant tomatoes out after the last frost, but no later than you need to. A late-November frost is entirely plausible here, so harden seedlings off properly. A transplant set back by cold or wind wastes weeks this zone can't spare.
  • Cucumber sown in October is aiming at a late-summer crop, given 60–80 days from transplant. Raise it in trays rather than direct sowing into slow-warming soil.
  • Direct-sown seed is slow. Carrot and pea rows can sit a fortnight before showing. Peas, pak choy, mizuna and coriander are recorded as frost-tender, so a cloche helps young plants in the hardest-frost gardens.

Recommended Cultivars

These cultivar picks for October's sowings come from NZ suppliers:

  • Cucumber — Port Albert, Green Apple, Deka (Koanga Institute)
  • Broad beans — Red Seeded, Suttons Dwarf (Koanga Institute)
  • Kale — Westerland, Squire (Kings Seeds NZ)
  • Broccoli — Sprouting Winter Rudolph (Kings Seeds NZ); de Cicco (Koanga Institute)
  • Lettuce — Salad Bowl Red, Parris Island Cos (Kings Seeds NZ)
  • Peas — Snow Shiraz (Kings Seeds NZ); Southland Sno (Koanga Institute)
  • Beetroot — Pablo F1, Cylindra (Kings Seeds NZ)
  • Tomato — Aunt Ruby's German Green, Ananas Noire (Kings Seeds NZ)
  • Sub-tropical summer crops — Courgette: Costata Romanesco (Kings Seeds NZ). Pumpkin: Musquee de Provence (Kings Seeds NZ). Climbing beans: Emu (Koanga Institute).

There are no approved cultivar picks yet for turnip, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, tamarillo or the fruit trees.

October Garden Jobs, Anywhere in NZ

These are general spring jobs, not zone-sourced planting data:

  • Harden off seedlings. A week or two in a sheltered spot outside stops tray-raised plants stalling or scorching when they go into open ground.
  • Install supports at planting. Stakes, cages and trellises for tomatoes and cucumbers are much easier to fit before the plant sprawls.
  • Fill gaps with the last-call crops before November's warm-season sowings need the space.
  • Keep newly planted seedlings watered while their roots establish, as spring winds dry soil fast.

Next Steps

For month-by-month sowing and harvest timing in your area, see the full planting calendar for your zone: