Short answer: in most of South Africa, October is the month to plant warm-season vegetables. Think tomatoes, peppers, beans, cowpeas, pumpkins, butternut, cucumbers, maize and amaranth, plus quick leafy crops like Swiss chard. The frost risk has passed in most areas, the soil is warming up, and the summer rains are on their way.
This guide is for the summer-rainfall regions, which covers Gauteng, North West, Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and most of KwaZulu-Natal. If you're in the Western Cape, most of this still applies, but you'll be watering through a dry summer rather than waiting for rain.
Sow or plant out in October
Fruiting crops
- Tomatoes: plant seedlings out now. Give them a stake or cage early, before they flop.
- Peppers, chillies and brinjals: they love the heat, so plant them in your sunniest spot.
- Pumpkins, butternut and squash: sow seed directly where they will grow, and give them room to spread.
- Cucumbers: sow directly; a simple trellis saves space and keeps fruit clean.
Legumes and grains
- Green beans: sow every three weeks from now until January for a steady harvest.
- Cowpeas: one of the toughest crops in a dry spell. You can eat the leaves as well as the peas, and they feed the soil with nitrogen.
- Maize (mealies): sow in blocks of several short rows rather than one long row, so the plants pollinate each other.
Leafy greens and roots
- Amaranth (morogo): grows fast in the heat, and the young leaves are ready in a few weeks.
- Swiss chard: the most forgiving leafy green there is. Pick the outer leaves and it keeps producing for months.
- Beetroot and carrots: sow directly in loose soil and keep the seedbed damp until they come up.
- Lettuce: still possible, but give it some afternoon shade or it will bolt.
Herbs and trees
- Basil: plant it next to your tomatoes.
- Moringa: frost-sensitive, so plant it now that the cold has gone. Its leaves are among the most nutritious greens you can grow.
Save these for autumn
Onions and garlic are planted in autumn (roughly March to May) and harvested in spring. Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower also struggle in summer heat and are best sown from late summer into autumn. Planting them now usually means bolting, pests and disappointment.
Keeping it alive on little water
October in the north brings hot afternoons, often before the rain arrives. The plants that fail this month usually die of thirst in the first two weeks, not of disease.
- Water early in the morning, at the roots, not on the leaves.
- Mulch with dry grass, leaves or straw to keep the soil cool and slow evaporation.
- Use drip irrigation. A gravity-fed bucket drip system puts water exactly where the roots are, uses about 70% less water than a watering can, and needs no electricity.
- Feed the soil before planting. Bio-fertiliser helps soil hold water and nutrients, so plants cope better with hot spells.
What a kit family can expect from an October planting
Plant now and leafy greens like Swiss chard and amaranth can be picked within four to six weeks, which means fresh food on the table by mid-November. Beans and cowpeas follow, and tomatoes and pumpkins carry the household through late summer. Let a few of the best plants go to seed, and next spring's planting costs nothing.
Every Harvesting Hope kit contains drought-resistant seed, a bucket drip irrigation system and bio-fertiliser, which is everything on this page. If you'd like to put a garden in the ground for a family this spring, you can donate a kit here.