Learn Your Growing Seasons to Know What to Plant in Your Garden & When

When I was first learning to garden, I checked out gardening books and watched videos online, trying to follow their advice and copy what they were doing in my own space. The problem was, those gardeners didn't live where I lived. They weren't experiencing the same weather that I was.

I felt like I was on my own. By the time I figured out what liked to grow when in one place, my husband and I would pack up and move, and I'd have to start all over again. After living and gardening in five different climates, I figured out a system that could work for me no matter where I was growing. The Gardenary planting system helps you make sense of your growing seasons in your unique climate, and it goes way beyond gardening zones, which can actually be quite limiting.

Once you understand your growing seasons, you'll be able to translate tips from any gardening book or video into what will work for your garden based on your climate.

Why Are Gardening Zones Not Enough?

Perhaps you've learned of gardening zones or frost hardiness zones. You've seen that colored map on the back of seed packages or on plant tags, and you've wondered, "What does that all mean? What zone am I in? Does it even matter?"

If you look at a colored map of planting zones, you'll notice there are sweeping colors across the US—even around the world—based only on the first and last frost dates. Places are assigned a number from 1 to 10, with lower numbers being more tundra-like and higher numbers being more tropical, and everything in between.

The problem with that is it's not specific enough. A zone number really doesn't help you understand your particular climate and seasons. I experienced this myself when I was gardening in Houston, Texas. I was in the same zone as those in California, yet I'd watch them garden and realize that we were doing very different things. Even though our frost dates were similar, the temperatures we were experiencing from day to day were quite different. And that's why I learned instead to understand and study my seasons.

So let's look at how to understand your seasons.

How to Understand Your Growing Seasons

Step One

The first step to understand your seasons is simply to pay attention to temperatures. Study the average high and average low temperatures in your town for each and every single month.

You can find your averages by typing "average high and low temperature + [your city or zip code]" in a search bar. Jot down your results for each month. Your average high might be as high as 95°F in the summer and as low as 35°F in the winter.

Step Two

The second step is to analyze your temperatures and assign them a season label.

Here are the four growing seasons:

• The cold season is when the average high temperature is around freezing (32°F) or below. Because the temperatures rarely rise above freezing, there is always a chance of frost and/or snow.
• The cool season is when the average high ranges from 35°F to 64°F. The average low could dip below freezing, so there's still a chance of frost and/or snow, usually at night.
• The warm season is when the average high is between 65°F and 84°F. The average low will no longer get close to 32°F, so there is no longer a threat of frost or snow.
• The hot season is when your high temps are above 85°F. You would probably love a chance of frost or snow, but there isn't any cold weather coming for some time. Hot seasons are typically found in subtropical and tropical areas, where the temperatures are regularly in the 90s, maybe even in the 100s.

You can, generally, place each month into a particular season using these temperature ranges. Not every month falls exactly into the same season all month long; some months can be split between two seasons, but you get the idea. Most gardeners experience three of the seasons, though you might have just two. 

I learned about the hot season the hard way in Houston, when I was trying to grow like I was still in a warm season. Plants have temperature preferences and varying tolerances to frost or heat. If you've ever really struggled to grow a plant, you were likely trying to grow it outside of the correct season.

We'll dive into each season and what the growing possibilities are in a bit, but for now, I hope you're getting a better picture of the seasons in your garden. The gardening resources I first studied led me to believe I could only garden in that warmest season of the year. While the majority of growing can certainly happen during that period, there is lots of growing that can happen on either side of it, too. More growing seasons means more time to grow, and I like the sound of that, don’t you? 

Step Three

The last step is to plot out your seasonal arc. We all have a seasonal arc, though it will look different for those who live in subtropical areas closer to the equator than it does for those who live in more polar regions.

Many of us begin the year in a cold or cool season—our coldest time of year. As it warms up, we move into a cool or warm season for spring. The closer you are to the equator, the sooner you'll hit a hot season. Gardeners in cooler climates will not experience a hot season at all. Their warm season will stretch over the summer months. In the fall, you'll move back into a warm or cool season. If your temperatures drop low enough, you'll end the year back in a cold season.

These seasons form an arc as temperatures rise and fall throughout the year. The high point of the arc occurs after the summer solstice, and then the second half of the arc mirrors the first half. We'll reflect this arc through our plantings. In other words, we'll repeat a lot of what we did at the beginning of the year at the end of the year. That's the arc of the seasons, and that's what we're going to use to make sure your kitchen garden is packed month after month, season after season, no matter where you're gardening.

Now, let's get to know each growing season a little better.

The Cold Season

In general, the garden is dormant during this period, though you might have some bulbs or seeds that were planted before your soil froze settling into your garden for the winter. One such frost-resistant plant that likes to establish its roots during the coldest months is garlic.

For the most part, we'll focus on the three other growing seasons since there won't be much to tend or harvest during this time (unless, of course, you're growing under cold frames or in a greenhouse).

The Cool Season

The soil begins to be workable with the arrival of the cool season. That means that when you put your hands into the dirt, the first 3 to 4" of the soil can be moved around and planted in.

Too many gardeners wait until there's no chance of frost to put anything in their garden. I start planting the moment my soil is workable. There are lots of plants that don't mind frost, and you'll miss so many delicious harvests if you wait until your last frost date to start planting. Trust me, the cool season is one you definitely don't want to miss!

Some of my favorite cool season plants are sugar snap peas; leafy greens like lettuce, cabbage, kale, and spinach; root crops like radishes, carrots, and beets; and herbs like cilantro, dill, and parsley.

The Warm Season

Whenever you see a picture of someone holding a harvest basket, they're probably showcasing lots of things from the warm season. This is what I like to call the quintessential garden season.

Plants that grow best in the warm season do not tolerate frost whatsoever. You'll only plant them outside once there's no chance of frost or under the protection of a cold frame or greenhouse, if you have one.

Many cool season plants will finish up their growth once the warm season arrives. Certain plants like kale, Swiss chard, and parsley are biennials, so they'll stick around for your warm season.

Some of my favorite warm season plants to grow are leafy greens like mustard greens, mizuna, and arugula; fruiting plants like squash, cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, and peppers; plus herbs like basil, rosemary, sage, oregano, and thyme.

How to Transition from the Cool to Warm Season

The cool to warm season is a gentle transition. Your warm season plants will go in while many of your cool season plants are still growing. They'll grow together for a bit, and eventually you'll pull the cool season plants that are struggling and have a fully warm season garden. For example, I often plant tomato starter plants next to the peas that are growing up my trellises. As soon as the peas are finished, I'll pull them down and turn the trellis over to the tomatoes.

This is how we have a productive and overflowing garden during the changing of the seasons. There never needs to be a time when the garden is just bare soil. You can always have something growing, something moving from one season to the next. And that brings us to the final season: the hot season.

The Hot Season

At the end of the warm season, some of you will want to transition to plants that can tolerate hotter temperatures. The hot season is so hot that many of our favorite fruiting plants struggle to form fruit. Tomatoes, for example, prefer the nighttime temps to dip below 75°F to help them recover, even though they like warm weather.

If you live in a colder climate, you might not have enough of a hot season to carry a hot season plant through to maturity. You might just accept there will be a short period of time when you don't have as much production from your plants. It's probably not worth pulling them.

Others might want to interplant hot season plants with warm season plants. You can keep many of your warm season plants alive, but you might want to add in hot season plants if you want harvests for the next couple of months until it cools down a bit.

Now, if you live in a place that stays hot for a very long time, then you might want to transition your garden entirely to a hot season garden. Some of the best hot season plants to grow include luffa gourds, black-eyed peas, eggplant, watermelon, okra, and sweet potatoes.

The hot season is the time to focus on keeping the garden full and helping plants tolerate really high temperatures. By making some adjustments to the plants you're growing and adding in some new plants, you can still have loads of production and make it through the hottest part of the year.

Getting the Timing Right Is a Huge Part of Gardening Success

Now that you know the four seasons of gardening in your climate, you'll have a much better idea which plants to grow each month and how long you can expect them to stay in your garden. (Don't worry. We'll talk more about plants in Part 9.)

No matter where you're growing, no matter how confused you are by frost hardiness zones and planting zones, this seasonal plan will work for you, right where you are, right away.

As you go through the year in your garden, there's always a season to look forward to and plan. Even on the hottest days when we don't want to be outside for longer than 5 seconds, there are plants that will be thriving and producing for you.

If you approach your seasons in this way, you're always going to have something to plant, something to plan for, and something to harvest as you go through the year in your own unique and dynamic kitchen garden.

I cannot wait to see the seasons unfold and the plants flourish in your kitchen garden this year.