Growing Potatoes in Georgia: Dates, Varieties and Summer Heat
Georgia gardeners can grow potatoes successfully, but the state’s heat load rewrites the calendar.
Gardening in Georgia
Everything we have worked out for Georgia: 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 Atlanta, the last spring freeze runs March 11 to March 29 and the first fall freeze runs November 13 to December 1, USDA zones 6a-9b, 5,477 growing degree days in the year.
Garlic does well: 13 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Georgia: 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.
Canning at Altitude in Georgia: What Your Elevation Changes
Most Georgia kitchens sit low enough that elevation never enters the conversation.
Watering a Garden in Georgia: How Much, How Often, and the Local Rules
Georgia gardens live and die on two numbers: how many days push past 90 degrees each summer, and how fast that same sun pulls water out of the ground.
Georgia Soil: What You Are Digging Into, and How to Improve It
Georgia’s official state soil, the Tifton series, is sandy, acid, and thin on organic matter, and that combination shapes almost everything a home…
Flowers That Actually Thrive in Georgia, and the Ones That Struggle
A look at which flowers hold up to Georgia’s heat and humidity, which natives pull their weight, and how to build a border that blooms all season.
Planting Spring Bulbs in Georgia: What Will Come Back, and What Will Not
Some spring bulbs return every year in Georgia. Others bloom once, thin out, and vanish by the third spring.
When to Plant Onions in Georgia
Georgia gardeners plant onions in fall, not late winter, and the reason has nothing to do with frost.
The Best Onion Varieties for Georgia
Georgia sits at 33.63 degrees north, measured at Atlanta, and the longest day of the year there brings 14 hours and 14 minutes of daylight.
The Best Apple Varieties for Georgia
Georgia’s mild winters, not cold hardiness, decide which apple varieties actually bloom and bear fruit, and that answer changes by region.
Firewood in Georgia: Which Woods Your Winter Actually Needs
Firewood in Georgia isn’t a survival question, it’s a comfort question. With average lows in the mid-30s during the coldest month at the state’s…