What to Plant in Colorado in October
By October, Denver’s first fall frost has either just landed or is about to, based on the September 30 to October 12 window recorded at the Denver station.
Gardening in Colorado
Everything we have worked out for Colorado: 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 Denver, the last spring freeze runs May 1 to May 11 and the first fall freeze runs September 30 to October 12, USDA zones 3b-7b, 3,401 growing degree days in the year.
Garlic does well: 30.4 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Colorado: the pests that turn up here.
Figures from NOAA's 1991-2020 climate normals. 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.
What to Plant in Colorado in November
Across most of Colorado, the growing season closed weeks before November arrives.
What to Plant in Colorado in May
May is Colorado’s hinge month: the last spring frost lands between May 1 and May 11 in the Denver area, so early May still calls for hardy, cold-tolerant…
What to Plant in Colorado in March
In most of Colorado, March sits eight to ten weeks ahead of the last frost window, so bare soil is still too cold for the tender crops most people…
What to Plant in Colorado in June
June is Colorado’s green light month. With the last spring frost behind most of the state (Denver’s average freeze window runs May 1 to May 11), the…
What to Plant in Colorado in July
By July, Colorado’s frost window has closed almost everywhere on the plains and Front Range, and the answer to what goes in the ground shifts from “wait”…
What to Plant in Colorado in January
Across most of Colorado, January is not a planting month in the open garden. The last spring frost on the Front Range runs May 1 to May 11, so bare soil…
What to Plant in Colorado in February
The honest answer for most of Colorado is that nothing goes into open ground yet in February.
What to Plant in Colorado in December
Across most of Colorado, December sits deep in the frozen middle of the gardening year, months past the first fall frost and months short of the last…
What to Plant in Colorado in August
August in Colorado sits well inside the growing season, not at its edge. With the first fall frost running September 30 to October 12 across the Denver…