Growing Carrots in Connecticut: Soil, Sowing and Forked Roots
Connecticut’s most representative soil, the Windsor series, is sandy and sharp-draining, the opposite of the heavy, waterlogged ground that twists a…
Gardening in Connecticut
Everything we have worked out for Connecticut: 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 Bridgeport, the last spring freeze runs April 2 to April 12 and the first fall freeze runs October 28 to November 10, USDA zones 6a-7b, 3,314 growing degree days in the year.
Garlic does well: 21.8 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Connecticut: 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 Connecticut in September
September in Connecticut still leaves a real planting window open: fall greens, radishes, turnips, and mesclun can go straight into the ground, cover…
What to Plant in Connecticut in October
October is a planting month in Connecticut, not a shutdown month. Garlic and shallots go into the ground now, cover crops get seeded before the soil…
What to Plant in Connecticut in November
By November, Connecticut’s soil has already crossed the line most vegetables need to grow.
What to Plant in Connecticut in May
May is the month Connecticut gardeners shift from cautious cool-season sowing to full planting mode.
What to Plant in Connecticut in March
March in Connecticut sits almost entirely ahead of the frost-free window, so open-ground planting stays limited to the toughest crops and only when soil…
What to Plant in Connecticut in June
June is the month Connecticut gardens fill in. By now the state is weeks past its last spring frost window (April 2 to April 12 on the coast) and nowhere…
What to Plant in Connecticut in July
July is Connecticut’s full-throttle growing month: succession beans, cucumbers, and summer squash still go straight into the ground, fall broccoli and…
What to Plant in Connecticut in January
Nothing goes into open ground in Connecticut in January. The soil is frozen solid across most of the state, and the earliest planting window (garlic…
What to Plant in Connecticut in February
In Connecticut, February rarely offers open ground worth planting. The state’s last spring frost typically falls between April 2 and April 12, so this…