Zone 10b Planting Calendar

What to do

Direct-sow roots, beans, and greens as seed; set out broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and onions as transplants. Start tomatoes 5–6 weeks and peppers 8 weeks before the August 1 set-out; buy broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and onion transplants the week of October 1, or follow the start-date section of each growing guide. The table states planting bands — when to put seed or transplants in the ground — not how long a crop can stay in the bed. A tomato planted in October may keep fruiting into February; that in-ground stretch is wider than the sow window, and it does not mean you can start a new tomato planting in April.

Season	Crops	Planting window
Cool-season	broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, lettuce, spinach, onions	Oct 1 – Jan 31
Warm-season, late winter	cantaloupe, cucumbers, corn, okra, watermelon, sweet potatoes	Feb–Mar (tomato and pepper band still open through February)
Warm-season, thinnest stretch	southern peas (black-eyed peas are a type) and lima/pole/bush beans in Apr; black-eyed peas and watermelon in May; sweet potatoes in both	Apr–May
Tropical gap, June	cassava, chayote, cherry tomatoes, Chinese yams, malanga, pigeon peas, pumpkin, sweet potatoes	Jun
Tropical gap, July	cassava, chayote, malanga, summer squash, yard-long beans	Jul
Warm-season, main band	tomatoes (larger fruit varieties Aug–Dec) and peppers	Aug 1 – Feb 28

If cassava, chayote, malanga, Chinese yams, or pigeon peas are new to you, plant cherry tomatoes, pumpkin, and sweet potatoes in June and summer squash in July, then wait until August. Skip peppers from April through July, and keep large-fruited tomatoes out with them — only cherry types hold a June slot. Both crops return in one window, August through February, sometimes into March, with no spring planting either way. Use the hot-climate variety notes in the tomato growing guide when choosing seed for June cherries or the August restart. Tomato pollen viability drops once day and night temperatures sit around 95°F and 80°F; three or more hours at 103°F on consecutive days can stop fruit set, and nights above 75°F disrupt pollen-tube growth.

Arbor schedules 10b planting tasks inside these bands — cool crops in the October-through-January window, tomatoes and peppers in the August-through-February band — not across a year-round warm season that would suggest sowing in spring.

Zone and season notes

UF/IFAS’s South Florida planting data is not split by USDA subzone — the same month-by-month table covers 10a and 10b because the crop calendar’s shape comes from heat and humidity, not the 5°F of winter cold between them. The real distinction is frost: 10a still gets a frost date on paper, even if frost almost never comes; 10b has none. October through January does the planning work a first-frost date would do everywhere else.

“No frost means plant anytime” is the myth this calendar corrects. The month-by-month table shows a real shape — a narrow summer list, a broad fall-and-winter list — not an undifferentiated year-round free-for-all. October through January is the stretch when both bands are open at once.

A Hawaii lowland garden should get local timing from the county’s University of Hawaii extension office before planting. For how 10a’s frost date changes the calendar, see the zone 10a guide; for the cool-season/warm-season split behind every row, see when to plant vegetables.