Late Winter (6–8 Weeks Before Last Frost)

This is when indoor seed starting begins for slow-growing warm-season crops:

• Start tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds indoors under grow lights.
• Start broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower seeds indoors for spring transplanting.
• Order seeds from catalogs — popular varieties sell out early.
• Review and sharpen garden tools. Repair or replace anything damaged from last season.
• Plan your garden layout on paper — crop rotation from last year's arrangement helps prevent soil-borne disease.

Early Spring (2–4 Weeks Before Last Frost)

• Direct sow peas, spinach, lettuce, radishes, and kale outdoors. These cool-season crops tolerate light frost.
• Transplant broccoli, cabbage, and onion sets outdoors if hardened off.
• Prepare garden beds — amend with compost, rake smooth, and install trellises or supports.
• Apply a fresh layer of mulch to established perennial beds.
• Set up drip irrigation or soaker hoses before plants are in the way.

Late Spring (After Last Frost)

• Transplant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant outdoors after hardening off.
• Direct sow beans, corn, squash, cucumbers, and melons once soil reaches 60°F+.
• Plant basil, dill, and other tender herbs outdoors.
• Set up stakes, cages, and trellises for tomatoes, beans, and cucumbers at planting time — installing them later risks disturbing roots.
• Begin regular watering schedule and monitor for pests.

Summer (Peak Growing Season)

• Maintain: Water deeply 2–3 times per week. Mulch to retain moisture. Fertilize heavy feeders (tomatoes, peppers) every 3–4 weeks.
• Harvest continuously: Pick beans, squash, cucumbers, and herbs regularly to encourage ongoing production.
• Succession plant lettuce, radishes, and beans every 2–3 weeks for continuous harvest rather than one big glut.
• Midsummer: Start seeds for fall crops — broccoli, kale, and lettuce for transplanting in late summer.
• Monitor for pests and diseases. Hand-pick large pests, spray aphids with water, and remove diseased foliage promptly.

Fall (First Frost Approaching)

• Transplant fall broccoli, kale, and cabbage started in midsummer.
• Direct sow garlic cloves 4–6 weeks before ground freezes — garlic overwinters and is harvested the following summer.
• Plant cover crops (crimson clover, winter rye) in empty beds to protect soil and add organic matter over winter.
• Harvest remaining warm-season crops before frost. Green tomatoes can ripen indoors in a paper bag.
• Clean up: Remove spent plants, compost healthy debris, and add a layer of mulch to protect soil over winter.

Winter (Planning and Prep)

• Review the season — what grew well, what didn't, and what to change next year.
• Send a soil sample for testing and amend based on results before spring.
• Order seeds and plan next year's crop rotation.
• Clean, sharpen, and oil tools for storage. See: How to Maintain Your Garden Tools.
• Build or repair raised beds, cold frames, and other structures during the off-season.

Keeping a Garden Journal

The single most useful tool for improving your garden year over year isn't a trowel or a soil test — it's a written record of what you planted, when, and how it turned out.

What to Record

A garden journal doesn't need to be elaborate. A simple notebook or spreadsheet tracking these data points gives you a powerful reference:

• Planting dates and varieties: Which tomato variety did you plant, and on what date? When did it set its first fruit? When was the last harvest? This data helps you optimize timing and variety selection year over year.
• Weather and frost events: Note unusual weather — late frosts, heat waves, extended rain, drought periods. These events explain why certain crops performed better or worse than expected and help you plan risk mitigation (row covers, shade cloth) for future seasons.
• Pest and disease observations: When did aphids first appear? Which plants were affected by powdery mildew? Did your companion planting strategy seem to reduce pest pressure? Patterns emerge across seasons that help you anticipate and prevent problems.
• Harvest weights or counts: Even rough estimates ("about 30 pounds of tomatoes from four plants") create benchmarks. If next year's harvest drops significantly, you know something changed and can investigate.
• Soil amendments: How much compost did you add, and when? What did the soil test show? Tracking amendments prevents the common mistake of over- or under-applying lime, fertilizer, or micronutrients.

Using Your Records

After two or three seasons of journaling, patterns become obvious. You'll discover that your garden's last frost date consistently falls a week later than the county average, or that a particular tomato variety consistently outperforms others in your specific microclimate. You'll notice that the bed near the fence gets powdery mildew every August and needs better airflow planning.

These insights are worth more than any gardening book because they're specific to your soil, your climate, and your growing conditions. No generic advice can match data collected from your own garden over multiple seasons.

Many gardeners also photograph their garden weekly during the growing season. A visual timeline shows growth progress, identifies problems early (before they're obvious to the eye), and provides satisfying before-and-after documentation of a season's work.