Guides
Gardening Guides
Straight answers for the job in front of you, from when to plant to what’s eating the kale. The dates and numbers are sourced, mostly to university extension services, and we show our work.
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When to Plant →
When to Plant Carrots: Two Temperatures, Not One
You can sow carrots at 40°F. They germinate best at 55 to 65°F and take two to three weeks to show. The gap between those numbers is where most carrot rows are lost.
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When to Plant Garlic: Zone-by-Zone Fall Planting Windows
When to plant garlic by zone: about 1–2 weeks after your first killing frost. Late September into October in zones 3–6, into November in 7–8, and later in the South.
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Which Fruit Grows in a Container: Ask Pollination Before Pot Size
Growing fruit in containers: 7 of our 26 fruit crops won’t set fruit alone, whatever the pot. Settle pollination before pot size, and before you buy.
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How to Grow Potatoes in a Bucket: One Plant Per Bucket, and Why
How to grow potatoes in a bucket: one plant per five gallons of soil, per New Hampshire Extension. Plus depth, hilling, and when to tip the bucket out.
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How Long to Harden Off Seedlings: What Six Extension Services Actually Say
How long to harden off seedlings: extension services say seven to fourteen days. What each says, why temperature beats the count, and two exceptions.
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How to Grow Tomatoes in Pots: The Size Everyone Quotes Is for a Different Plant
How to grow tomatoes in pots: five gallons suits a compact tomato, but seven in ten varieties aren’t compact. Pot sizes, and 33 varieties that fit.
Read the guide →Frost Basics →
Will It Frost Tonight? Read the Signs in Your Own Yard
Will it frost tonight? Read your own yard: the three signs of a frost night, the dew-point rule, and why your low spots run colder than the forecast.
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Frost-Tolerant Vegetables: Which Ones Survive Cold, and at What Temperature
Which vegetables tolerate frost, and at what temperature. Four groups — tender to very-hardy — from our plant data, mapped to sourced extension temps.
Read the guide →Frost Protection →
Summer Heat →
Plant Problems →
Aphids: How to Be Sure, and When to Leave Them
How to get rid of aphids, and when not to bother. Every aphid has two tiny tailpipes, and Minnesota says most populations can simply be ignored. Here’s when.
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Blossom End Rot: It Is a Calcium Problem, and the Calcium Spray Cannot Fix It
The fruit really is short of calcium. Your soil usually is not. Clemson names the spray as a myth for two mechanical reasons — and the actual fix is how you water.
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Cabbage Worms: Three Green Caterpillars, and You Tell Them Apart by Poking Them
Cabbage worms are three green caterpillars: imported cabbageworm, cabbage looper and diamondback moth. Color won’t tell them apart. Touching them will.
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Damping Off: There Is No Cure, So the Whole Job Is Getting Seedlings Past It Fast
Damping off has no cure, so the job is getting seedlings past it fast. Wisconsin’s advice: germinate warm so seedlings rapidly grow out of the stage.
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Cucumber Beetles: Stripes Mean the Grubs Are in Your Roots, Spots Mean They Are Not
Cucumber beetles: only the striped one’s larvae feed on cucurbit roots, says UC IPM. How to tell striped from spotted, and what a wilting plant means.
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Flea Beetles: When the Shot-Holes Matter and When They Don't
Tiny holes peppered through your leaves, and beetles that jump when you lean in. On a two-week-old seedling that is urgent. On a grown plant it is not.
Read the guide →When to Harvest →
When to Harvest Potatoes: Two Crops, One Plant
New potatoes come at seven or eight weeks. Storage potatoes need the tops to die back and then two more weeks in the ground, which is the step that thickens the skin.
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When to Harvest Garlic: Two Signs, One Test
When to harvest garlic: the leaves are the bulb’s wrappers, so they tell you when to dig. Then settle it: pull one bulb and cut it across.
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