What to Plant in December in Zone 10: Cool Crops, Flowers, and Garlic
In USDA zone 10, December keeps cool-season greens, roots, brassicas, and flowers open through mid-month, with garlic and fig continuing into January.
Published by ThriveThyme
December Zone 10 December zone 10 fall planting cool-season crops
What to Plant in December in Zone 10
In USDA zone 10, December is still a strong cool-season month. Greens, roots, brassicas, herbs, peas, onions, and many flowers keep catalog windows open through about December 15. Garlic runs mid-November into early January. Fig has a December-January fall planting window.
Typical first frost averages around late December (about December 30). Confirm with the first-frost lookup and the first frost guide. Also check the zone 10 December calendar and what to plant now.
Cool-Season Sowings
- Greens: lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale, collards, Swiss chard, bok choy. Lettuce, spinach, arugula, kale.
- Roots: radish, beet, turnip, parsnip, carrot while October-mid-December windows fit. Radish, beet, carrot.
- Brassicas: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts as transplants or seed. Broccoli, cabbage.
- Peas, onions, leeks, and cool herbs such as parsley, dill, chives, mint, and lemon balm.
- Cilantro ends earlier (about December 1); sow only at the start of the month if that window still fits.
Flowers
Bachelor's button, black-eyed Susan, columbine, dianthus, hollyhock, lupine, nasturtium, purple coneflower, pansy, snapdragon, sweet pea, and breadseed poppy have November-December catalog windows. Keep seedbeds moist after sowing.
Garlic and Fig
Garlic opens about November 15 and runs to about January 1. Fig tree fall planting is about December 1 to January 15. Plant garlic in cool, well-drained beds; plant dormant fig when soil is workable. Garlic and garlic timing by zone.
Next Steps
Keep cool-season beds filled through mid-December, plant garlic on cool soil, and set fig while dormant. Compare November zone 10, December zone 8, and December zone 9.