Gardening Tips by the Month
Over the course of the year your gardens take on the changes of the seasons. Each season, each month within the season require needs by your garden. This page contains links to monthly gardening tips to help you get the most out of your gardens.
NOTE: click on either the month name (in green) or the photo to jump to that month’s garden tips.
The weather is likely to range across a broad spectrum in March: hard freezes, windy storms, rain and bright sunshine. But don’t let the Lion of March scare you off, find your best weather to start your gardening season because March does go out like a lamb (hopefully!).
In the Northeast US April is the waking up of your gardens. A good strong start in April will pay dividends throughout the year.
Early May is a continuation of April with more pruning, planting, dividing and bed prep. By the 2nd half of the month you can start to relax (a little) and enjoy the fruits of all your labor with all the wonderful blooms popping all over your garden.
June isn’t without its own ‘to-do’ list. There is some cleanup from the May blooms, last chance for this season’s plantings and important time for making sure your vegetable garden is heading in the right direction.
The heat of July brings it own challenges, tasks and rewards. There is more pruning, staking adjustments, deadheading, pest control, mulching and most importantly, watering to do.
Come August your garden can be pretty stressed for all that summer heat. Water becomes more critical when rain is infrequent. It’s also harvest time for many of your vegetables and herbs.
September brings the cooler weather with it which is a great time to start planning for next year’s garden, prepping plants for the coming winter, and reorganizing your garden for next Spring.
October is time to finish up putting your garden to sleep for the coming winter. Cut back the perennials, harvest seeds from annuals, enrich your compost pile, final mulch of your beds, refill your bird feeders and get your house plants back in before the cold kills them.
November
Surprisingly there’s often a lot of good weather this month to support gardening, particularly long-term planning. You’ll also find that there are a number of trees that still look gorgeous in early November.
