A month-by-month guide for USDA Zones 7b–8b (north Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and most of the Southeast). Enter your email below and we'll send the printable version plus a short weekly note on what to plant, pick, or put up this week.
January
Start indoors: onions, leeks, celery. Preserve: citrus marmalade; feed your sourdough twice a day in a warm spot.
February
Start indoors: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant (6–8 weeks before last frost, roughly April 10 in Zone 7b). Direct sow: peas, spinach. Chick season begins.
March
Direct sow: lettuce, radishes, carrots, beets. Transplant: broccoli, cabbage. Preserve: strawberry jam toward the end of the month.
April
Transplant after last frost: tomatoes, peppers, basil. Direct sow: beans, squash, cucumbers. First herb harvest for drying.
May
Direct sow: okra, sweet potatoes, melons. Preserve: pickled radishes, dried oregano and thyme.
June
Harvest: garlic, onions. Preserve: blueberry jam, first cucumber pickles, dried herbs.
July
Preserve: tomato sauce, salsa, peach preserves, dilly beans. Start fall brassicas indoors.
August
Preserve: more tomatoes, hot sauce ferments, pepper jelly. Direct sow fall crops: beans, squash.
September
Transplant: fall broccoli, cabbage. Direct sow: lettuce, spinach, carrots. Preserve: apple butter, sauerkraut from early cabbage.
October
Plant: garlic, onion sets. Preserve: pumpkin butter, pear preserves. Start a holiday sourdough schedule.
November
Cover beds, mulch garlic. Bake: Thanksgiving loaves. Preserve: cranberry sauce.
December
Plan next year's garden. Order seeds. Bake: gift loaves. Give someone a starter.