What to Plant in February in Zone 10

Ninety-odd crops, most of them heat lovers

February is the biggest planting month of the year in zone 10, with tomato, pepper, eggplant, cucumber, melon, and okra all opening for the first time alongside the cool season crops still going strong. That overlap is shorter here than in colder zones, since zone 10's warm season arrives fast on the heels of a winter that barely qualified as one.

Start warm season transplants with confidence rather than hedging against a late freeze; the risk this month runs the other direction, toward soil and air already warm enough to stress a seedling hardened indoors, so give new transplants a few hours of shade their first 2 days outside rather than full sun immediately.

Cool season crops are already running out the clock

Cilantro, parsley, lettuce leaf, arugula, chard, and radish all make their last appearance of the cool season this month, since rising day length and warmth push these crops toward bolting faster in zone 10 than almost anywhere else on the map. Harvest anything close to ready rather than letting it hold in the ground another week hoping to size up further.

Garbanzo beans share that same closing window; pods are ready to pick dry when they rattle inside the shell and the plant itself has mostly yellowed, usually within 100 days of a January planting, and a harvest delayed into warmer weather risks mold setting into pods before they fully dry.

Low chill fruit gets planted now, too

Bare root blueberry, blackberry, and raspberry plantings are best finished by the end of this month, before rising heat stresses new roots before they establish. Choose blueberry varieties bred specifically for the 200 to 600 hour range that southern highbush covers, since standard northern varieties bred for colder winters may simply fail to break dormancy well or fruit poorly in a zone 10 winter.