If you don’t know what zone your garden is in, find your USDA hardiness zone here. Enter the code on the security pop-up (it is case-sensitive), then enter your ZIP Code to see your zone. If you click where you live, a window will pop up showing your exact zone info.
What to Do In Your Garden This Month
Zones 1 – 4
- Hill soil around carrots and potatoes to prevent green shoulders.
- Brighten your home with bunches of cut flowers.
- Spread mulch and irrigate to retain moisture in dry weather. Water early in the morning or late in the day to reduce the water lost to evaporation – a drip system reduces lost moisture by 30% or more!
- Start sowing vegetable seeds for your fall garden: carrots, beets, turnips, collards, cabbage, snap beans, radishes, kohlrabi, endive, kale, and summer squash.
- Start seedlings of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower to transplant later this month for your fall garden.
- Remember to continuously harvest your fruits and vegetables to prolong growth and production and avoid attracting pests.
- Harvest summer squash when it’s young and tender – no longer than 8 inches.
- After harvesting the central broccoli, the plant continues to grow side shoots so don’t pull it up!
- Lightly fertilize tomatoes and peppers with a 10% fish emulsion solution or a 20% solution of milk. Just give them a boost, don’t over-feed.
- Remember to inspect your plants daily if possible for any insect or disease damage; treat plants when necessary. A good shot of water spray to knock them off is often sufficient.
- Pinch flower buds and tops on herbs such as mint, oregano, and savory to encourage leaf growth. Use the fresh herbs in your daily cooking.
- Make less work next year by preventing weeds from seeding. Pull weeds as soon as they grow and use mulch in your garden and flower beds to prevent them from sprouting. If they get ahead of you, keep them from flowering and setting seeds.
Zones 5 – 6
- Reseed dill and cilantro every few weeks for continuous harvest and to attract beneficial insects with their blooms.
- Harvest vegetables and fruits regularly to keep plants producing. Harvesting in the cool of the morning keeps flavors high and wilt low.
- For fall harvest, sow carrots, kale, beets, and Swiss chard; also set out transplants of cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.
- Pre-soak overnight and sow snap, shelling, or snow peas. Soaking speeds up germination.
- Sow a fall crop of bush beans now. Protect the seeds from the hot sun by planting two inches deep. Do the same for other vegetable seeds for fall harvest by planting them just a little deeper than you did in the spring. The best time to plant is after a rain shower.
- Build up a little earth mound around your melon stems to keep water away and reduce rot.
- Remove any new melon blossoms after they set three or four fruits. The remaining fruits will be stronger and tastier, and you will still have plenty.
- In warmer weather, water deeply in the morning and avoid light sprinklings. Water the roots, not on the foliage – a perfect reason a drip system makes your life easier!
- Start your favorite culinary herbs such as parsley, dill, and basil in pots for indoor use over the winter. Use large pots, 8 – 12 inches in diameter, to avoid bound roots and have enough to cook with.
- Harvest tomatoes, zucchini, beans, and other fruiting crops each morning to encourage production and avoid attracting pests with over-ripe fruits.
- Garlic and onions are ready when their tops start to bend over. Remove their tops after they’ve dried for a couple weeks and store in a cool place.
Zones 7 – 8
Towards the end of the month sow seeds of collards, cabbage, and carrots.
- Keep the carrot seedbed moist by covering it with two inches of straw mulch until seeds sprout.
- Stay on top of weeds. The less they set seed, the less you’ll deal with next year and less to clean up this fall.
- Clean up the garden where plants have been removed and won’t be replanted until fall, then plant cover crops to improve the soil while conserving moisture.
- The best time to work in the garden is in the early morning or late in the day after work or dinner to avoid the heat of the day.
- While it’s hot, don’t overstimulate dormant plants with unnecessary feeding; they’ll resume growth when the weather cools. Keep them adequately watered.
- Tend to your compost pile so it will be ready to work into the soil in preparation for fall planting.
- Try something new and set out transplants for fall tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant late in the month. Start them at the beginning of the month, and choose smaller tomatoes and faster-growing peppers.
- Monitor soil moisture at least daily, ideally each morning and afternoon. You should find moist soil within the top two inches, if not, increase your watering amount. A drip system on a timer makes this much simpler.
- Harvest tomatoes, zucchini, beans, and other fruiting crops each morning to encourage production and avoid attracting pests with over-ripe fruits.
- Build up a little earth mound around your melon stems to keep water away and reduce rot.
- Remove any new melon blossoms after they set three or four fruits. The remaining fruits will be stronger and tastier, and you will still have plenty.
Zones 9 – 10
- Start planning your fall garden. This is often the same as a spring garden in northern climates that have freezing winter temperatures.
- Spread at least three inches of compost on areas where you plan to grow fall vegetables and flowers.
- For fall harvest, plant lettuce, carrots, beets, turnips, early beans, brassicas, and summer squash. Sow seeds a little deeper to take advantage of cooler soils and more available moisture.
- Protect peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, and lettuce from sun scald by providing partial shade – plant on the east side of a wall or install a temporary wall of shade cloth supported by six-foot-tall T-posts on the west side of the row. Both approaches give afternoon shade during the hottest part of the day.
- Plant fast-growing sunflowers for shade, windbreak or fall color. Remember, they also feed bees and pollinators, often lasting later than other flowers.
- Start seeds of okra, eggplant, peppers, and heat-tolerant tomatoes for transplanting next month into a cooler season garden.
- Make sure that the garden is well mulched to conserve moisture.
- In hotter weather, water deeply in the morning and avoid light sprinklings. Water the roots, not on the foliage – a perfect reason a drip system makes your life easier!
- Try something new and plant a short season, smaller pumpkin for Halloween and to cook with.