Know Your Growing Seasons
Have you ever watched a gardener on YouTube show you what to do in the garden only to realize… they don’t live where you do. They don’t have the same weather or seasons. Their timing in the garden isn’t the same as yours. Trying to replicate what they do—without personalization—is just setting yourself up for disappointment.
Understanding your local growing seasons is the key to taking all that great garden advice and making it personalized. Knowledge of your seasonal changes and local nuances will allow you to customize generalized garden best practices into a formula for success. So here we go.
A Breakdown of the Growing Seasons
Knowing the arc of our local seasons will help you create a timeline and understand when to plant and harvest different things in your garden. First, look up your first and last frost dates and jot those down. These dates tell you when your warm season starts and ends. Next, write down the average monthly high temperature for every month in your area and classify each month as cold, cool, warm, or hot.
Cold season: Average high temperatures are below 34°F and there’s a guaranteed chance of frost or snow
Cool season: Average high temperature is between 35°F and 64°F and there is a chance of frost and/or snow
Warm season: Average high temperatures are between 65°F and 84°F and there is no chance of frost and/or snow
Hot season: Average high temperatures are above 85°F and there is no chance of anything resembling cold weather
With your growing seasons charted, you can create a rough schedule for the garden. For example, in the DMV area, we can plant our cool season garden in February and will be harvesting most by April or May. We can interplant crops for our warm season garden in April as the cool season garden is finishing up, and interplant our second cool season garden in September and October as the warm season garden dwindles down.
If you’re a visual person, you might want to download a copy of my local growing seasons guide. I charted out our local growing seasons so you can really see the arc, and include an extensive list of plants that can be grown in our main growing seasons.
Which Plants Grow in Each Season
Plant Families That Grow in the Cold Season
We don’t have a true cold season in the DMV—a season when average high temperatures are below 34°F and there’s a guaranteed chance of frost or snow. However, due to the shorter daylight of December and January, our plant growth still slows down. And when we do get a cold snap, plants go dormant and unprotected plants may die. Here are plant families that can grow in the coldest and shortest of months:
Amaryllidaceae (Onion family): Chives, garlic, onions, shallots (all dormant or slow growing)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family): Spinach (slow growing under cover)
Apiaceae (Carrot family): Carrots (slow growing under cover)
Brassicaceae (Mustard family): Cabbage (slow growing under cover)
Polyganaceae (Buckwheat family): Rhubarb (dormant; plant in a dedicated garden bed)
Other: Asparagus (dormant or slow growing; plant in a dedicated garden bed)
Plant Families That Grow in the Cool Season
Our local cool season wraps from November to April, meaning we kick off and end every year in a cool season. The cool season is defined as months when the average high temperature is between 35°F and 64°F and there is a chance of frost and/or snow. There are slight nuances between our spring cool season, when temps are rising and days are growing longer, and our fall (second) cool season, when temps are fall and days are growing shorter. These plants in the following plant families really thrive in the cool season:
Amaryllidaceae (Onion family): Chives, garlic, onions, shallots
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family): Beets, spinach, swiss chard
Apiaceae (Carrot family): Carrots, cilantro, dill, fennel, parsley
Asteraceae (Aster family): Calendula, chamomile, lettuce, radicchio, romaine
Brassicaceae (Mustard family): Arugula, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens, radishes, turnips
Fabaceae (Bean family): Fava beans, peas
Lamiaceae (Mint family): Oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme
Other: Pansies, violas
Plant Families That Grow in the Warm Season
Our warm season goes from May through October, with July counting for a quick blip into the hot season. The warm season is when the monthly average high temperatures are between 65°F and 84°F and there is no chance of frost and/or snow. The warm season is when most of the quintessential kitchen garden crops (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers) grow. These plants in the following plant families really thrive in the warm season:
Amaryllidaceae (Onion family): Chives (keep growing), garlic and onions (finally ready to harvest)
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family): Swiss chard
Apiaceae (Carrot family): Parsley
Asteraceae (Aster family): Marigold, zinnia
Brassicaceae (Mustard family): Arugula, kale
Cucurbitaceae (Cucurbit family): Cucumbers, squash, zucchini
Fabaceae (Bean family): Bush and pole beans
Lamiaceae (Mint family): Basil, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme
Solanaceae (Nightshade family): Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes
Plant Families That Grow in the Hot Season
In the month of July we have a brief hot season. (And as we know locally, it can sometimes carry into early August!) The hot season is when the monthly average high temperatures are above 85°F and there is no chance of anything resembling cold weather. Just as the cold season stresses plants and sends them into dormancy (or worse, kills them when they aren’t protected), the hot season can too.
With such a short hot season, our focus in the DMV is moreso on protecting and maintaining our warm season plants. But you can have fun interplanting a few hot season crops (like Armenian cucumbers, luffa gourds, crowder peas, and okra) in June and watch them flourish in July and August. These plants in the following plant families grow in the hot season:
Amaryllidaceae (Onion family): Chives
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth family): Swiss chard
Brassicaceae (Mustard family): Kale
Convolvulaceae (Morning glory family): Sweet potatoes
Cucurbitaceae (Cucurbit family): Armenian cucumbers, luffa gourds
Fabaceae (Bean family): Crowder peas
Lamiaceae (Mint family): Basil, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme
Malvaceae (Mallows family): Cotton, okra
Solanaceae (Nightshade family): Eggplant, peppers, tomatillos
Timing is one of the keys to garden success.
You may know our frost dates, but did you know we have three growing seasons in the DMV? Download this guide to our local growing seasons so you can save time and money by planting the right plants at the right time.
