It's Time to Plan Your 2024 Garden

Did you know that one hour of planning can save you ten hours of doing? (Dale Carnegie said that, so it must be true, right?)

Each minute you spend with Gardenary planning your 2024 kitchen garden will save you hours of doing over the next 12 months. It might even spare you an entire season of trying to grow something that just won't thrive in your current temperature range.

So here goes: I've got 13 steps to help you plan your 2024 garden. (Sorry to those of you who are superstitious about the number 13. Think of them as 12 steps, plus one to grow on!) These steps are something every vegetable gardener should do, no matter how much growing space and growing experience you have.

Grab a notebook, your 2024 calendar, and a pen, and let’s dig in!

Find Your First & Last Frost Dates

You'll start by getting a little more familiar with your local climate. Google the predicted first frost date and last frost date for your town or city in 2024. (You can search yours up by typing in “{your city’s name} first and last frost dates 2024”.)

Mark both of these dates on your 2024 calendar.

These frost dates are important, but not for the reason you might think. They do not tell you how many days you can garden. You don't have to wait until your last frost of the spring to start planting and then finish up before your first frost of the fall.

Really, the only thing your frost dates tell you is when your warm growing season begins and ends. Your warm season begins on or around the last frost date, and your warm season ends on or around the first frost date of 2024 (some of you will have a hot season in the middle of that period).

Don’t know what a warm season is? No worries! I'll explain in a bit.

Chart Your High & Low Temperatures for Each Month

Once you've got your first and last frost dates marked, search "high and low temperature for each month in {your city’s name}". U.S. Climate Data is a great resource if you're in the US.

Make yourself a little chart and record your high and low temps for each and every month of the year. This will help you plan each month in the garden to suit the temperatures you have in your area.

You'll need your first and last frost dates and your monthly temp averages to complete several of the following steps, so don't skip this part!

Label Your Growing Seasons

Use the monthly chart you created in step two to label the growing seasons you experience in your climate. The average high temperature will help you determine whether each month of your year is the cold, cool, warm, or hot season.

Here are the numbers you’ll use to label each month:

• If the average high is below 34°F (1°C), then you’re in the Cold Season.
• If the average high is between 35°F and 64°F (18°C), then you’re in the Cool Season.
• If the average high is between 65° and 84°F, then you’re in the Warm Season.
• If the average high is above 85°F (29°C), then you’re in the Hot Season.

Once you have your seasons labeled for the year, you’re well on your way to know what you’ll do in the garden each month of 2024.

Make Your Plant Priority List

Write down the top five plants you for sure want to grow in 2024.

Not sure where to begin? Here’s some guidance:

• Choose an herb you use most in cooking.
• Choose a leafy green you would enjoy most in salads or smoothies.
• Choose a root crop you know you’d love to harvest.
• Choose a fruiting plant you’d love to cook with (like tomatoes or squash).
• Choose a flower you’d love to add to the garden space.

This short list can give you guidance as you plan out what you'll grow each season in our 2024 garden. So make your priority list, check it twice, and keep it visible in the steps ahead.

Pick Plants to Grow During Your Cool Season

It’s time to select your cool season plants. Cool season plants love growing in temps that range from 45°F to 75°F. These plants can tolerate frost, and some can even stay alive through some fairly chilly conditions. By selecting your cool season plants now, you’ll know what you’ll be growing at the beginning of the new year.

If you’re in a moderate climate, these plants will get planted right away (and most could even be planted now if you’re in a warmer climate).

If you’re in a cooler climate, you’ll wait till February to start some of these indoors and maybe as late as March to plant them outside. But, those days will come sooner than you’d think.

Some of my favorite cool season plants include garlic, Swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, carrots, cilantro, kale, and sugar snap peas. You can find more cool season plants grouped by plant family in the list below.

Write a list of your favorite cool season plants, and then we'll figure out when you’ll plant them in your garden.

Select Your Warm & Hot Season Plants

Warm and hot season plants can either be started indoors or planted directly into the garden after all chance of frost has passed.

Warm season plants like growing in temperatures that range from 65°F to 84°F. Some of my favorite warm season plants include tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and basil.

Hot season plants like growing in temps 85°F and above (think subtropical- and tropical-type plants here).

Warm and hot season plants can’t tolerate frost and shouldn’t be moved outside unless you’ve got lots of covers to protect them from cold weather or there’s zero chance of snow or frost.

By selecting your warm and hot season plants now, you’ll know what seeds to order and have a plan for what you’ll be growing all the way through 2024. If you’re in a moderate climate, your warm season plants will get planted in February or early March (and most could even be planted now if you’re in a subtropical climate).

If you’re in a cooler climate, you’ll wait till March or April to start some of these indoors and maybe as late as May or June to plant them outside. But those days will come sooner than you’d think!

Plan Indoor Planting Days

Now we'll use your frost dates and your average temps to plan actual dates for planting your larger plants inside so that you can get a jumpstart on the garden season. For some of you, the best time to start seeds indoors for your cool season garden might be as early as January.

One thing that newer gardeners don't realize is that some plants need to be started indoors way before it's time to plant them in the garden. This isn’t necessary for every plant—just plants that need at least 75 to 90 days before they’re ready to harvest.

Cool Season Indoor Planting Days

For the cool season, the plants I start indoors are broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and sometimes peas.

To know when to start your cool season plants indoors, subtract 100 days from your last frost date that you recorded in step one. If you’re in a warm climate and your last frost date is in early February or January, you should start your large cool season plants indoors right away. And if there’s no chance of frost in your area, you can go ahead and direct seed these large plants in the garden now.

Warm Season Indoor Planting Days

For the warm season, the plants I start indoors are tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and potentially squash, zucchini, and melons. To know when to plant your large warm season plants indoors, find your last frost date and count back 45 days.

Hot Season Indoor Planting Days

For the hot season, the plants I start indoors would be okra, tomatillos, and any large gourd or melon. To know when to start these plants indoors, find the first month when your average high temperature exceeds 85°F and count back 45 days.

I’m sharing two examples here to help you find your indoor planting dates.

Now that you’ve got these dates, mark the calendar so you never miss a date to plant again. Doesn't it feel good to already have some dates on the calendar for 2024?

Plan Space for a Year-Round Supply of Herbs

One of our goals at Gardenary is for all of us to grow a year-round supply of herbs. Let me say it another way: You'll never have to buy herbs from the grocery store again.

Sound good to you?

Herbs are one of the simplest things to grow in the garden, and they can be harvested from again and again. Homegrown herbs are so much better than herbs from the store because those little leaves really don't hold up well to shipping and all that. Herbs do their flavorful and nutritional thing best when they’re consumed right out of the garden or saved at home.

So, what do you need to be sure you have enough space for all your herbs next year?

Pick your favorite perennial herbs (chives, rosemary, mint, oregano, sage, and thyme are the most common) and annual herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, and parsley).

Each herb plant will need about ½ to 1 square foot of space, and you should be able to harvest a year’s supply of each herb if you plant this many:

• 3 to 5 of each of your favorite perennial plants
• 10 to 15 of each annual plant

You can have just one garden bed or large container dedicated to herbs, or you can plant them throughout the garden space. Either way, commit enough space to your herbs so that you can grow a year-round supply.

For me, I plant out my rolling steel planter with herbs, add herbs to the borders of my kitchen garden, and grow extra annual herbs like dill, parsley, and basil in my pollinator garden space.

Take some time to think about how much space you’ll need for all your herbs and plan where you’ll plant all of yours. Then, give yourself a high five. You just took one step toward sustainability and a much more flavorful new year!

Determine Space to Have Six Months of Salad

As you plan your garden for 2024, I wanted to invite you to take the Gardenary challenge to harvest six months of garden salad next year. If you’re in a warmer climate, you can harvest lettuce greens from January to March and October to December. And in cooler climates, you can harvest lettuce from March to May and September to November.

I’ve personally gardened in the colder climate of Chicago and the hot climate of Houston and been able to grow at least six months of my own salad greens in both places. If I can do it, I know you can do it too!

To plan to grow this much salad, you’ll want to plant about 50 salad plants per person—this allows you to harvest from each plant for a personal salad over a 45- to 60-day period.

Fifty salad plants take up about 6 to 10 square feet of gardening space if you grow them to their full size. So, if you’re planning for salad for your whole family, you can plan on 10 square feet per person (to be generous) or 6 square feet to pack it in. For my family, I’ll aim to plant about 30 square feet of salad early in the spring and early in the fall.

If you’ve never grown lettuce greens before or never grown this much, you’re in for a fun surprise. These plants grow so much in such a little space, and the taste compared to store bought is waaaay better!

Schedule Outdoor Planting Days

It's time to schedule cool season, warm season, hot season (if applicable), and second season planting days. These are the actual factual days you're going to dig and plant in your garden.

Here's your planting guide:

• Cool Season Planting Day 1: 45 days before last frost date
• Warm Season Planting Day 1: last frost date
• Hot Season Planting Day (if applicable): date when high temps average 90°F+ for 90 days
• Warm Season Planting Day 2 (if applicable): date when high temps average 65°F to 85°F for 90 days
• Cool Season Planting Day 2 (if applicable): 60 days before first frost date

Here are two examples:

Now you can figure out your own planting dates.

If the numbers start to confuse you, just focus on figuring out your cool season planting date. That’s the one that matters right away.

Decide What You'll Grow in Your Raised Beds & Large Containers Each Season

As you know, I do love raised beds, but there are some plants that I prefer to plant in either a row garden or my landscape instead. I’ve learned over the years that the larger, sprawling plants are often not worth the real estate of my raised beds.

In the cool season, I typically save my raised beds for lettuce, kale, cabbage, mustard greens, radishes, arugula, carrots, celery, peas, and fava beans. I plant broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco, cilantro, dill, and parsley in the ground.

In the warm season, I focus on growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and basil in my raised beds. I prefer to grow squash, zucchini, melons, and gourds in the ground.

In the hot season, okra, tomatillos, and eggplants do great in raised beds, while sweet potatoes, melons, corn, and sunflowers do better with lots of room in the ground.

Now’s the perfect time to decide if you’d like to add more raised beds or in-ground garden space. The good news is that something great will grow in any space—you just have to match your plant’s needs to your setup.

Draw Your Planting Plan for Each Season

Grab some graph paper and some colored pencils (or water colors if you're feeling fancy). Draw your raised beds, containers, and in-ground beds to scale on the graph paper. Mark spaces where you have trellises that can support vining plants like peas and tomatoes.

Use your cool season planting list to plan out where you'll grow all the plants for this season. Don't forget your herbs and salad greens!

Repeat for each of your growing seasons.

Read more about my intensive planting methods if you'd like to pack more plants into your raised beds the way I do.

Here's my warm season plan for my garden.

Add Key Dates to Your 2024 Calendar

You've already marked your frost dates and your planting dates in your calendar, but there are a couple other dates to make note of now so that you don't forget during the critical time.

Schedule Time to Hand Water After Outdoor Planting Days

Even if you have an automated watering system, you'll need to supplemental water after key planting dates to keep the soil surface wet. Watering on time is critical when we're growing lots of plants in small windows of time.

Here are the key times you should mark out on your calendar for watering:

• daily surface watering for 2 weeks after sowing new seeds
• deep weekly watering when plants are producing lots of fruit (about 75 to 90 days after warm and hot season planting)

Make a Plan to Add Compost to Your Garden Before Each New Growing Season

You'll add a 2- to 3-inch layer of fresh, nutrient-dense compost to your garden before each new season's planting day.

Here are the dates to add compost:

• 50 days before your last frost date
• 5 days before your last frost date
• about halfway through your longest growing season
• 70 days before your first frost date

Put Garden Clear Out Days on the Calendar

All you have to do is subtract 7 days from each of the outdoor planting dates—that's when you should begin cleaning out plants from the previous season's garden. Depending on the size of your garden, you might need to set aside several hours to accomplish this.

The days when you need to pull the plants you’ve worked so hard to plant, tend, and grow in the garden are the hardest. It can feel like bringing a hammer to your sculpture or ripping your best painting in two. But this is part of the gardener’s year: cleaning out tired plants to make room for what will grow next.

These Steps Will Help You Grow More in 2024

Now that you’ve planned your garden, you’re ready for the year ahead.

Here at Gardenary, we're on a mission to help you grow more in 2024. Keep checking back for all the fantastic free resources we're offering this year to help you grow more in your space than you ever thought possible!