Zone 9b planting calendar

What to plant in November: zone 9b

A rule-of-thumb starting point for zone 9b: last spring frost around February 15, first fall frost around December 15. Zones are set by winter lows, not frost dates, so two gardens in the same zone can be weeks apart. Measure your ZIP below for dates from your area's own 30-year record.

These are zone-average dates. Check an area-level frost estimate from thirty years of nearby weather history and this calendar retimes itself.
Typical last frost: February 15
Typical first frost: December 15
Winter lows: 25 to 30 °F
Zone 9b Almanac. What growers here actually recorded: sowing weeks, days to first pick, and yields.

Plan & order

  • Map this year's beds2 sowings: Nov 2 and Nov 9

    Rotate families off last year's ground. Nightshades, brassicas and cucurbits each move to a new bed. Sowing again a few weeks later keeps the harvest coming instead of arriving all at once.

Dormant care

  • Sharpen and oil toolsaround Nov 16

    Clean, sharpen and oil blades while there's time. Dull tools bruise plants and slow you down.

  • Prune dormant fruit treesaround Nov 30

    Prune apples, pears and peaches while fully dormant. Open the center, remove crossing wood.

Start indoors

  • Sow microgreens indoorsaround Nov 23

    A tray on the windowsill gives you a cut of fresh greens every 10-14 days through the cold months.

Direct sow

  • Rutabagaaround Nov 23

    Soil is ready 12 weeks before last frost.

Transplant for fall

  • Kalearound Nov 1

    Last safe transplant date to mature (55 days) before frost on 12-15.

Direct sow for fall

  • Radish2 sowings: Nov 12 and Nov 26

    Succession sowing 2 of 3. Sow every 14 days for a steady cut. Sowing again a few weeks later keeps the harvest coming instead of arriving all at once.

  • Spinacharound Nov 16

    Counts back 40 days from your first frost. Frost-hardy: light freezes sweeten it.

Sow cover crop

Plant to overwinter

  • Onionaround Nov 17

    In zone 7+ onion sets planted before frost overwinter for an early summer bulb.

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