Gardening Calendar

A garden runs on a rhythm: planning in winter, sowing in spring, tending in summer, harvesting and tidying in fall. This gardening calendar turns that rhythm into a month-by-month list of jobs timed to your own frost dates. Enter your average last spring and first fall frost dates, choose a month, and it lists what to do in the garden that month, from starting seeds indoors to planting garlic. Because it works from your dates rather than a fixed national schedule, it fits gardens from the northern states to the Gulf Coast.

How to use the gardening calendar

1. Enter your average last spring frost date and first fall frost date. The frost date tool explains where to find them.
2. Choose a month. The calendar opens on the current month.
3. Read the task list for that month.
4. Check back each month, or step through the months to plan the whole year.

For crop-by-crop planting dates, use the planting calendar. This page covers every garden job, not just planting.

A year in the garden

The month-by-month guide below follows a typical garden with a last spring frost around mid to late April and a first fall frost around mid to late October, common across much of the mid-Atlantic, lower Midwest and similar regions. If your frost dates are earlier or later, shift each task by the same amount, or let the calendar tool do it for you.

January

The quietest month, and the best time to plan. Review last year’s notes: what grew well, what failed, what you planted too much or too little of. Sketch this year’s layout, rotating crop families to new beds. Browse seed catalogs and order early, before popular varieties sell out. Check stored seed and run a germination test on older packets. Clean and sharpen tools if you did not in fall.

February

Indoor seed starting begins. Set up lights and trays, and start onions, peppers, eggplant and parsley around eight to ten weeks before your last frost. Later in the month, start tomatoes and the cabbage family. Outdoors, prune fruit trees and grapes while they are dormant, and order bulk soil or compost for new beds so it arrives before the spring rush. Our guide on when to start seeds indoors covers lights and timing.

March

Spring work starts in earnest. As soon as the soil can be worked, sow peas, spinach and radishes outdoors, about four to six weeks before the last frost. Plant onion sets and seed potatoes later in the month. Start lettuce, kale and basil indoors. Spread compost on beds, repair raised bed frames, and set up trellises for peas. Soil that sticks in a ball when squeezed is too wet to work; wait a few dry days.

April

A busy month. Sow carrots, beets and lettuce in early April. Transplant broccoli, cabbage, kale and lettuce about two weeks before the last frost. Start hardening off warm-season seedlings by setting them outside for a few hours a day. After the last frost, plant tomatoes and basil once nights stay warm, and sow beans, corn, cucumbers and squash into warm soil. Keep row cover handy for late cold snaps.

May

Finish planting warm-season crops, including peppers, eggplant, sweet potato slips and okra, which like even warmer soil than tomatoes. Mulch beds once the soil has warmed, set up tomato cages and stakes, and install drip lines. Begin succession sowings of beans and lettuce. Start checking leaf undersides for aphids, flea beetles and other early pests. Harvest spring radishes, spinach, peas and lettuce.

June

The garden fills out. Water deeply and consistently, about an inch a week from rain and irrigation combined; the garden watering calculator converts that into gallons. Keep up with weeding while weeds are small. Tie tomatoes as they grow. Side-dress heavy feeders such as corn and squash with compost or fertilizer. Pull bolting lettuce and spinach and replace them with beans or other warm-season crops. Harvest garlic scapes.

July

Peak harvest season begins. Pick beans, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes often to keep plants producing. Harvest garlic when the lower leaves brown, and cure it. Watch for squash vine borers, hornworms and Japanese beetles. Most importantly, plan and start the fall garden: sow or transplant broccoli, cabbage, kale, carrots and beets around ten to twelve weeks before the first fall frost. The planting calendar shows exact dates.

August

Keep watering, harvesting and watching for pests, especially powdery mildew on squash and cucumbers. Sow fall lettuce, spinach, radishes and cilantro in late summer, shading seedbeds in hot weather to help germination. Order garlic and spring-flowering bulbs for fall planting. Save seed from open-pollinated varieties you want to grow again. Note which varieties performed best while the season is fresh in your mind.

September

Summer crops wind down and fall crops take over. Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers and squash, and cure winter squash in a warm, dry place. Thin and weed fall crops. Divide crowded perennials. Sow cover crops in beds as they come empty, especially those, like clover, that need time to establish before cold weather. Take soil samples for testing so you can apply lime in fall if needed.

October

Frost arrives in many areas. Before the first frost, harvest tender crops, including full-size green tomatoes, which ripen indoors. Cover late greens with row cover to extend the harvest. After the first frost, clear spent plants, removing diseased material from the garden. Plant garlic and spring bulbs. Spread compost and shredded leaves over empty beds. Our guide to fall garden prep covers these jobs in detail.

November

Finish cleanup. Drain and store hoses, rain barrels and drip system parts before hard freezes. Clean, sharpen and oil tools. Once the ground starts to freeze, mulch perennial beds and strawberries to protect roots from freeze-thaw cycles. Harvest the last kale, Brussels sprouts, carrots and leeks, which often taste sweeter after frost.

December

A month of rest. Check stored produce such as squash, onions and potatoes, and remove any that are spoiling. Keep notes on the season if you have not already. Read, plan and enjoy the seed catalogs that start arriving. In mild climates, keep harvesting cool-season crops and protect them from the occasional hard freeze.

Adjusting for your climate

The months above suit a moderate climate. Shift them for yours:

• Northern states and high elevations: spring tasks start two to five weeks later and fall tasks earlier. The season is compressed, so indoor seed starting and fall planning matter even more.
• The South and Gulf Coast: spring tasks start several weeks earlier, and summer heat creates a midsummer lull. Fall and winter are prime seasons for cool-season crops.
• The desert Southwest: two main growing seasons, in spring and fall, with extreme heat in between. Local extension calendars are especially valuable.
• The Pacific coast: mild winters allow year-round greens, while cool summers favor brassicas, peas and root crops.

The calendar tool above makes these shifts automatically once you enter your frost dates.

Jobs that happen all season

• Check the garden often. A short daily walk catches pests, disease, dry soil and ripe produce early.
• Water deeply, not daily, and check the soil before watering.
• Weed little and often. Small weeds take seconds to pull; large ones take minutes and steal water and nutrients.
• Keep notes. Planting dates, harvests, problems and weather all help next year.
• Harvest regularly. Many crops produce more when picked often.

Planning tools for each season

• Winter: the plant finder to choose crops, and the seed starting calculator for indoor dates.
• Spring: the raised bed soil calculator and plant spacing calculator for new beds and plantings.
• Summer: the garden watering calculator and the pest identifier.
• Fall: the compost calculator and mulch calculator for putting beds to bed.

Beyond vegetables: other seasonal jobs

Most gardens include more than vegetable beds. A few seasonal jobs for other parts of the garden:

• Fruit trees: prune apples and pears while dormant in late winter. Thin heavy fruit sets in early summer for larger fruit. Clean up fallen fruit in fall to reduce pests.
• Berries: prune raspberries after harvest or in late winter, depending on the type. Mulch strawberries after the ground freezes.
• Perennial flowers: divide crowded clumps in spring or early fall. Many gardeners leave stems standing over winter for birds and insects, cutting them back in spring.
• Spring bulbs: plant in fall; let foliage die back naturally after flowering so bulbs store energy for next year.
• Cool-season lawns: early fall is often the best time to seed, aerate and feed grasses such as fescue and bluegrass. Topdressing with compost after aeration improves the soil.
• Warm-season lawns: grasses such as Bermuda and zoysia are usually fed and repaired in late spring and summer, when they grow actively.

Making the calendar your own

The best gardening calendar is the one you build from your own garden. Start with this tool’s tasks, then add your own notes as the year goes on: when the first tomato ripened, when powdery mildew arrived, when the first fall frost actually came. After a year or two, you will have a calendar tuned precisely to your garden, your climate and the crops you love to grow.

A simple monthly routine

Whatever the month, a short routine keeps the garden on track. At the start of each month, open the calendar, read that month’s tasks, and jot down the ones that apply to your garden. Each week, walk the garden, check soil moisture, look under leaves for pests, and harvest anything ready. At the end of the month, note what you planted, harvested and observed. These few minutes a week prevent most problems from getting out of hand, and the notes you build up become the foundation for a calendar tuned exactly to your own garden.

Frequently asked questions