Gardening in Alberta: What the Season Actually Allows
Alberta gives gardeners a growing window of roughly 90 to 120 frost-free days, depending on where you live in the province.
Gardening in Alberta
Everything we have worked out for Alberta: what to plant and when, which varieties finish in time, the pests that actually turn up here, and the jobs that pay off month by month. We also cover the rest of the property, from lawns and soil to home care and energy, because a garden rarely stops at the vegetable bed.
The numbers first, because everything else follows from them. Measured at the weather station in Calgary, the last spring freeze falls around May 21 and the first fall freeze falls around September 16, 1,171 growing degree days in the year.
That is little accumulated warmth: tomatoes need a tunnel or a greenhouse here, whatever the frost dates suggest. Garlic does well: 39.1 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Alberta: the pests that turn up here.
Figures from Environment and Climate Change Canada. A state is not one climate: elevation, a large lake or the coast can move these dates by two weeks either way, so check your own county with the extension service before you spend money.
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Thrips in Alberta: When It Shows Up and What Stops It
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Social wasps in Alberta: When It Shows Up and What Stops It
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Brown marmorated stink bug in Alberta: When It Shows Up and What Stops It
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Alberta Lawn Care: What to Plant and When to Feed It
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Garlic Varieties That Suit Alberta Winters
Alberta’s late-August garlic planting window is timed off Calgary’s mean first fall frost date, with hardneck cultivars best suited to colder districts.