🍂 October Garden Guide by Reimagined Roots
Harvest, Protect, and Prepare for Winter
October is the garden’s invitation to slow down and pay attention. The air turns crisp, the light slants golden, and the soil still holds a whisper of warmth even as frosts loom. This is a month for gratitude and grit - harvesting what remains, protecting what endures, and laying the groundwork for next year’s abundance. In permaculture, we honor these cycles of decay and dormancy, knowing that today’s care shapes tomorrow’s vitality.
Harvest Before Frost Hits
Walk your garden with a basket and a sense of urgency.
In central Massachusetts, the first frost usually arrives between early and mid-October, and a hard frost—the kind that kills tender crops—can follow within days.
A light frost is around 32°F, briefly touching leaves and sometimes sparing protected or cold-tolerant plants.
A hard frost drops to 28°F or below for several hours, ending the season for warm-weather crops.
Before frost:
Harvest all tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, and basil. Even a light frost will damage them.
Pick beans and cucumbers before vines collapse.
Dig sweet potatoes and tender herbs while the soil is workable.
Root crops like carrots, beets, and parsnips can stay in a bit longer, as they’ll actually sweeten with cool nights, but dig them before the ground freezes.
Clear spent annuals, compost what’s healthy, and leave seed heads and hollow stems for birds and beneficial insects. Striking the balance between tidy and wild sustains both your soil and your ecosystem.
Plant for Next Year’s Harvests
There’s still time to plant a few essentials—if you act now.
Garlic: Plant late September through early October, about 4–6 weeks before the ground freezes. Set cloves pointy side up in rich, well-drained soil and cover with 4–6 inches of straw or shredded leaves for winter insulation.
Spring-Flowering Bulbs: Get daffodils, crocus, and alliums into the ground as early in October as you can. Late planting risks frost heaving.
Cover Crops: If you missed the September window, your best (and only reliable) option now is winter rye. It germinates in cool soil, stabilizes bare ground, and resumes growth in spring. For all other cover crops, it’s too late - opt for mulch instead.
Hardy Greens: Spinach and cold-tolerant lettuces can still go in under row cover or low tunnels, but success varies year to year depending on how quickly hard frost sets in.
Pro Tip: If in doubt, mulch it. A thick layer of leaves, straw, or compost keeps soil life thriving and prevents erosion through winter’s freeze-thaw cycles.
Care for Fruit Trees and Shrubs
As perennials enter dormancy, support their resilience.
Finish harvesting apples, pears, and late berries
Rake or compost fallen leaves and fruit to reduce pest and disease pressure
Mulch around the base of trees and shrubs to insulate roots and retain moisture
Water deeply before the ground freezes, especially in dry years
Plant Ally: Garlic
Garlic is both medicine and soil builder.
Plant cloves pointy side up, spaced 4-6 inches apart
Mulch heavily to insulate and suppress weeds
Expect scapes in early summer and bulbs by mid-summer
Garlic improves soil structure and deters pests when interplanted with strawberries, fruit trees, or tomatoes
Wild Edibles and Medicinals in October
The wild edges continue to offer nourishment and medicine.
Rose hips for teas, jams, and syrups rich in vitamin C
Acorns for flour, leached of tannins and ground into meal
Black walnuts for nuts, dye, and compost-activating shells
Chickweed, still green in cool weather, for salads and soothing skin remedies
Harvest in reciprocity, taking what you need and leaving plenty for wildlife and regeneration.
Prepare the Garden for Rest
October is the season to invest in soil and design with the long view.
Mulch empty beds with leaves, straw, or compost to protect soil life
Sow cover crops to fix nitrogen and hold nutrients in place
Cut back and divide perennials before the ground freezes
Collect and save seeds from favorite open-pollinated crops
Stack brush or create habitat piles for beneficial insects and small animals
Observe and Design with Autumn’s Wisdom
As plants die back, the structure of your landscape is revealed.
Notice where frost settles first and where snow lingers longest
Track the low arc of sunlight as days shorten
Reflect on which plantings were most resilient and which struggled
Sketch changes you want to make, guided by this year’s lessons
Keep Growing
October is a month of transition and trust.
Harvest mindfully, plant quickly, mulch generously, and observe deeply.
Every small act of care roots into the promise of spring.