Gardening in Kentucky

Everything we have worked out for Kentucky: 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 Louisville, the last spring freeze runs March 24 to April 4 and the first fall freeze runs November 2 to November 12, USDA zones 6a-7a, 4,712 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 Kentucky: 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.