What to Plant in Indiana in June
June in Indiana sits well past the frost line: Indianapolis clears its last spring freeze between April 9 and April 21, so by June the soil has had six…
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.
What to Plant in Indiana in July
July in Indiana sits in the middle of the growing season, well past the last spring frost window of April 9 to April 21 and still three months from the…
What to Plant in Indiana in January
January in Indiana is not a planting month for the open garden. Soil across the state sits frozen or waterlogged, and the ground won’t be workable again…
What to Plant in Indiana in February
February in Indiana means frozen or waterlogged ground across most of the state, so the honest answer is that almost nothing goes into open soil this…
What to Plant in Indiana in December
Nothing goes into open ground in most Hoosier gardens this month. Indiana’s first fall frost already landed between October 21 and October 30, and the…
What to Plant in Indiana in August
In Indiana, August is the last realistic month to start a fall vegetable garden from seed.
What to Plant in Indiana in April
Indiana’s April splits into two gardens: what tolerates a lingering frost and what doesn’t.
When Does the Heating Season Start in Indiana?
Indiana’s heating season opens in October, when the statewide reference station’s average temperature first drops below the 65°F mark used to calculate…
Growing Peppers in Indiana: Fruit Set, Heat and Timing
Indiana peppers face a narrow window. The state’s summer heat and its still-unpredictable spring frost mean fruit set can fail on either side of that…
Pepper Varieties That Ripen in a Indiana Season
Most pepper varieties, from sweet bells to hot jalapeños, can ripen fully within an Indiana growing season if the transplant goes into warm soil after…