Seedcorn maggot in Indiana: When It Shows Up and What Stops It
Seedcorn maggot shows up in Indiana fields every spring, usually between late April and early June, whenever cool, wet soil delays germination and slows…
Gardening in Indiana
Everything we have worked out for Indiana: 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 Indianapolis, the last spring freeze runs April 9 to April 21 and the first fall freeze runs October 21 to October 30, USDA zones 5b-7a, 3,822 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 Indiana: 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.
Cabbage looper in Indiana: When It Shows Up and What Stops It
Cabbage loopers turn up in Indiana gardens from late May through the first hard frost, with the heaviest feeding pressure hitting cole crops in July and…
The Indiana Lawn Care Calendar, Month by Month
A month-by-month guide to mowing, feeding, and seeding a cool-season Indiana lawn, timed to Indianapolis frost data from NOAA and Clemson’s maintenance calendar.
Indiana Lawn Care: What to Plant and When to Feed It
Indiana lawns need cool-season grass, not warm-season turf, based on NOAA climate normals for Indianapolis and Purdue Extension guidance.
Garlic Varieties That Suit Indiana Winters
Indiana’s fall planting window, the frost data behind it, and which named garlic cultivars suit both the state’s cold winters and its disease pressure.
When to Plant Garlic in Indiana: Counting Back From the First Frost
Garlic in Indiana is planted in fall, from late September to early October, counted back from Indianapolis’s average first frost recorded by NOAA.
Growing Garlic in Indiana: Planting Dates, Varieties and Winter Cold
Indiana’s cold autumns easily meet garlic’s chilling requirement, so growers can plant hardneck varieties in early October and expect full cloves by summer.
Garden Pests in Indiana: What Shows Up, When, and How to Stop It
Purdue Extension flags ten insect pests as the ones most worth watching in Indiana vegetable gardens, from spring beetles to fall stink bugs.
Tomato Pests in Indiana: Which Ones Actually Show Up Here
A season-by-season rundown of the cutworms, beetles, aphids, mites and hornworms that actually attack Indiana tomatoes, with how to identify and manage each one.
Tomato Varieties That Ripen in Time in Indiana
Fourteen tomato cultivars checked against Indianapolis’s frost window, from 55-day cherry types to 85-day paste tomatoes, showing which finish safely each season.