What to Plant in March in Zone 10

New arrivals with a long season ahead

Winter squash, pumpkin, sweet potato, ginger, and turmeric all begin their run this month, and each vining or root crop among them needs a long stretch of frost free growth to finish, roughly 85 to 110 days for winter squash and pumpkin, 90 to 120 for sweet potato. Zone 10's frost free stretch runs long enough to support all of them if they start on time.

Sweet potato slips root fastest in soil that has already warmed past 65 degrees, which most zone 10 beds reach earlier than colder zones; a slip set into cooler soil simply sits and sulks rather than putting on the root growth that becomes the harvest.

Herbs and grains are already closing out

Dill, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage, mint, and chives are all on their last call for a fresh start this month, since zone 10's heat ramps up earlier than in cooler zones and germinating fine herb seed in soil already pushing 80 degrees gets harder by the week. Established perennial herbs already in the ground handle the coming heat far better than new seedlings do.

Dent corn, grain amaranth, and sorghum share that same closing window; all three need their full season to mature grain before zone 10's earliest, hardest heat arrives, and a planting pushed into April cuts real weeks off the grain fill period these crops need. Pigeon pea does not belong on that clock: it is a heat-loving tropical legume that stays vegetative through the hottest months and only starts podding once days shorten again in fall, so a March start is about giving it a full season to bulk up before that fall trigger, not about beating the heat.

Peanut rounds out the list

Peanut is worth the effort this month if you have not grown it before; plant shelled raw peanuts about 2 inches deep, and expect flowers to form on stems that then bend down and push the developing pods into the soil itself, a process that takes around 120 to 150 days to finish before a fall dig.