What is YOUR color?
Trying to explain when to prepare your garden, start seeds inside, and plant outside is so confusing! That is because the timing is different for each location. For example, I live less than 30 minutes away from my cousin, yet she can plant 2 weeks sooner than I can!
When to plant is all based on your “last frost date”. This is the average date of the last spring frost in your area. After this date it is generally safe to transplant frost-sensitive plants and seeds. Don’t follow this strictly–if you’ve had an extended winter, you may want to wait longer. If you’ve had a mild winter and an early spring, you may want to plant a little sooner.
From the frost date you count backwards and forwards: 12 weeks before your last frost date is a good time to start cabbage and peppers indoors from seed. 5 weeks before is the soonest you should transplant the cabbage outside to the garden, but the peppers have to wait until 2 weeks after the last frost date to be transplanted. How can a person keep it all straight?
In hopes of making it simpler, I have created a gardening color code. I have grouped frost dates together and assigned a color. Then, each color has a page with a schedule that links to a week by week TO DO list. Also, each TO DO list has a chart of when to complete it depending on your color. Finally, I am offering an email newsletter that will send reminders of which tasks can/should be completed that week, again by color.
So, look up your frost date, determine your color, and away you go!
To determine your frost date:
- Click here.
- Under “Select a State(PDF)”, click on your state. This will bring up a list of locations and frost dates.
- Search for a location near you, preferably one at a similar elevation, with similar weather conditions.
- The MIDDLE date is the best (middle column, middle row).
Refer to the chart below to determine what color group you belong to!
| Color | Frost Date | Color | Frost Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red Group | March 16-31 | Green Group | May 1-15 |
| Orange Group | April 1-15 | Blue Group | May 16-31 |
| Yellow Group | April 16-30 | Violet Group | June 1-15 |
Filed under: How To
I am sooooo excited to find your site. I have started some square foot gardens – with your help – I know they will be amazing this year! Thanks!
Thanks for the great color charts. I can hardly wait to get my newsletter…
I was excited to find your site too. I don’t need a big garden anymore. I like fresh veggies and I can some things. I think this is going to be a good year.
I like your website! I might try a small container garden this year. Please help me with the color section. I checked the link for the frost date for my area (McAllen, Texas) which is January 5th. (Spring section, middle column, middle row). There is no color section on your chart for an area this hot. The unrelenting heat is why I give up on my gardens by the second week in June. It was a very dry and windy 91 degrees on February 27th which does not bode well for this summer. Do you have any suggestions about when and what may stand up to this climate? If I plant in containers on my east facing patio, the containers will be in shade by 4pm daily. Thanks in advance for all of your help!
so glad i found your website (through EveryDay Food Storage). I have the sq ft garden book and this is the first year i’m going to try it. i finally live in a location where i feel like the bugs won’t eat all the roots. i signed up for the newsletter. I’m a green! anyhoo… excited to see what tips you have for newbies.
Can you teach us how to make square foot garden boxes from vinyl at Home Depot?
I was so excited to find your website! My family will be moving to New York in July, so I don’t think I will be planting and leaving all my precious spoils to the next renters! I WILL be planting next year with the help of this website–which is SO helpful. I’ve learned so much already!!! Thank you!
Thank you! This is a great system.:)
I usually find that published planting dates are way off for our area. We are in the “Blue” zone, so planting dates are quite a bit behind a lot of other areas.
Joyce
I live in Henderson/ Las Vegas, I think my date is Feb16 but that doesn’t fall into any color. Should I just follow the red group?
Hi, I love your site but I live in New Zealand and our last frost is around October. So is there any chance you may do other countries?
To reply to Theresa in McAllen TX and Tonya in Las Vegas NV:
No, you won’t have success following the “red” schedule. Both of you seem to have a similar problem. Unlike many places in the US where you can garden from spring to fall without a break, your climate is too hot in the summer to actually grow anything. However, you CAN grow almost all winter-long! So you need to switch your thinking from a spring-summer-fall mentality to a fall-winter-spring mentality.
The best thing both of you can do is to contact your local extension service (www.extension.org), or get in touch with a neighbor who has some experience gardening in your area. Then you will be able to determine how to adjust these schedules to your climate.
If there are enough people in this situation, I’ll do a little research and put something together. If you are interested in this, send me an email at mysquarefootgarden@gmail.com.
To Annette:
Yes, I built my own boxes from vinyl at Home Depot. It was a project! I will write a post about my experience, so watch for it in the next week or so!
Hi! I too found you through everyday food storage. I just wanted to say THANK YOU for the newsletter. This year I am going to plant a garden for the second time. I grew up in military housing (my dad was an army helicopter pilot) and we never had time to grow a garden (we moved often). I have a 15×40 spot that I will be using and I want to get the max produce for the space. I didn’t do so well last year but I learned a lot. Cabbage Questions: Where is the best place to plant my cabbage once it is time? I could plant it in my veggie garden area which is the south east corner of my lot (no fence) or I could plant it in a shady area by my office window. Is shade a bad idea? or partial shade that gets morning sun but shaded from the hot afternoon sun? Potato Question: How did you start them? And how far apart did you plant them? Do you have a drawing of your garden plan and how far apart you planted everything and north, south, east, west directions for us? And one last question: Have you tried pole beans? Any success?Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Oh and I tried the sweet yellow onion starts last year and they turned out incredible.
Thank you so much for your blog. I found it yesterday and am so excited about getting my garden going again this spring. I’ve been gardening for about 2 1/2 years and can’t wait to learn more. Keep up the good work.
To Laura:
Yes, here is my gardening plan from last year:
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/emily-week-0/
Cabbage-read the back of your seed packet. Mine calls for full-sun, but you are right–you don’t want it to get super hot. My strategy is to plant them on the south west side of my yard, next to a fence. That way they get sun all day, but are blocked from the hot afternoon rays. Perhaps your office window spot is similar. You could try both and see which grows better!
Potatoes-I’ve written several posts about this:
http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/category/veggies/potatoes/
Pole beans-tried them the first year, and didn’t like them. Perhaps I should try another variety, but my trellis spaces are already full! I’ve converted to bush beans.
Dear Emily,
I saw your post at GRS [Starting Seeds Indoors: Jump-Start Your Garden Today]. Thanks for sharing your Website.
Lynn
Will you be doing color charts for fall planting as well?
@Theresa – I downloaded a spreadsheet that allows us to put our last frost date into a cell, then it generates planting times for us.
http://achingdebts.com/gift-to-my-readers-garden-planner-spreadsheet/
But, I don’t know if it would work for as far south as you are.
I was given a copy of Texas Gardener, January/February 2004, page 18 has the most excellent planting guide for the entire state of Texas.
It has our state zoned off into our own State Zones, which there’s six of them. You’re in Tx Zone 6.
Once we determine which Tx Zone we’re in, there’s a table for many common vegetables, how many plants or seeds to plant per 50ft, depth, spacing, crop height, then when to plant them for Tx Zones 1-6 (only for Spring, no fall planting times, geee).
I’m going to try to scan it, but apparently it got a little flooded (it’s not molded, so apparently I saved it in time), so it’s wrinkly and might not scan well. If it doesn’t scan well, I can type in the times and let you figure out the rest, if you contact me that you want it).
PS: Asparagus and English Peas are the only “not recommended” vegetables for your Tx Zone.
shreela gmail
Texas Zone 6 (McAllen, Tx) Spring Plant Times
Asparagus (crowns) Not Recommended
Beans, snap & lima bush Jan 30 – Feb 28
Beans, snap pole Jan 30 – Feb 28
Beans, lima pole Jan 30 – Feb 28
Beets Dec 19 – Jan 2
Broccoli Dec 19 – Jan 2
Cabbage Dec 19 – Jan 2
Carrot Dec 19 – Jan 2
Chard, Swiss Dec 19 – Jan 2
Collard (kale) Dec 19 – Jan 16
Corn, Sweet Dec 19 – Jan 16
Cucumber Jan 30 – March 14
Eggplant Feb 14 – Mar 14
Kohlrabi Dec 19 – Jan 16
Lettuce Dec 19 – Feb 14
Muskmelon (Cantaloupe) Jan 30 – Mar 14
Mustard Jan 30 – Mar 14
Okra Feb 14 – Mar 14
Onion (plants) Nov 22 – Jan 2
Onion (seed) Dec 5 – Dec 19
Peas, English Not Recommended
Peas, Southern Feb 14 – Apr 11
Pepper Feb 7 – Mar 28
Potato, Irish Dec 19 – Jan 2
Potato, Sweet Feb 14 – Mar 28
Pumpkin Feb 7 – Feb 28
Radish Dec 19 – Feb 28
Spinach Dec 5 – Jan 23
Squash, summer Feb 7 – Feb 28
Squash, winter Feb 7 – Feb 28
Tomato (plants) Jan 30 – Mar 28
Turnip, greens and roots Dec 19 – Jan 16
Watermelon Jan 30 – Mar 14
I copied that from a spreadsheet I started. So far, I’ve only got Theresa’s Tx zone entered. Next, I’ll enter in mine, Houston Tx zone 4 (USDA zone 9b).
Great website you have here. Thanks for taking the time to share your insight with the rest of us.
i love your website! i just found it! i would love to get your e-mail (about planting tmes, etc.), but try as i might, i cannot understand that table of how to find the frost dates to find what color i am! Help!! i live in Eureka, CA. Can someone please help me?? Its even in the chart–(i didn’t know we ven HAD a frost date LOL)
Thank you!!
Can’t wait to get gardening!
Vcky
Vicky,
That’s because your spring frost date is January 27, and your fall date is December 16. What that means is, you can’t plant non-frost hardy plants from the middle of December until the end of January. Essentially, you can garden year round! That is good news, but it’s a whole different strategy of gardening. My newsletters won’t help–they are designed for people who have a less temperate climate, with spring frost dates from March to June.
I would suggest getting Mel’s book (a picture and link are on the left sidebar), since it has a year-round gardening schedule. Or, if you don’t square foot garden, just find a year-round gardening book.
Good luck!
Could someone help me. I am confused. I am so happy that I came across this site, but I am unsure about my dates. I followed the instructions, but am still unsure what my color would be. I am in Austin Texas, zone 8. Could someone help me. Thanks.
I live in Lawrenceville, GA and do not know what color I come under. Could you tell me.
Love your informative site!!
Caroline
Thank you so much for being so helpful and sharing.
Lawrenceville is not listed specifically, you’ll need to look at the list and choose a nearby town with a similar climate. If you give me that name, I will let you know!
Not positive if any of your other readers have asked this…but what kind of theme are you using for your blog? I really like the style. I am running a blog too however can’t ever seem to find my “utopian” theme. This one is really close …however I’d perhaps tweak some things within the Header for my style. thx.
i do i find out my frose date for the South East of England i have tryed to seach this on the internet but they don’t seem to be anything for England
My theme is Digg 3 column, you can find it here: http://www.wpdesigner.com/2007/01/22/digg-3-columns-wordpress-theme/
Glad you like it!
What a great question! I am not aware of the resources available to gardeners outside of the USA.
I did a google search for “frost dates England” and found this website: http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/main/weather1.asp
It looks like you pick your city from a drop down, then the whole site is geared to your dates. I clicked on Weekly Calendar on the left, and it had an article about what to do this week, according to my frost date. Looks pretty interesting–that is what I am trying to offer people via my newsletter.