Watering Pots and Containers in Louisiana
Container gardens in Louisiana live and die by two things: how hot it gets and how the water that falls from the sky actually behaves once it hits a pot…
Gardening in Louisiana
Everything we have worked out for Louisiana: 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 New Orleans, the last spring freeze runs January 18 to February 8 and the first fall freeze runs December 17 to January 8, USDA zones 8a-10a, 7,275 growing degree days in the year.
Heat, not frost, is what shortens the season here: above 86 °F tomato pollen goes sterile, so growers run a spring crop and an autumn one rather than a single long season. Garlic is the awkward one: only 0 weeks below 40 °F, where it needs six to split into cloves. Chill the cloves before planting, or grow a softneck type.
Elsewhere on the property in Louisiana: 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.
The Best Onion Varieties for Louisiana
Louisiana sits at 29.99 degrees north, and on the longest day of the year the sun gives it 13 hours and 56 minutes of daylight.
Forcing Spring Bulbs Indoors in Louisiana
Forcing works in Louisiana because the state’s winters almost never deliver the sustained chill spring bulbs need to bloom on their own schedule.
Growing Spring Bulbs in Containers in Louisiana
Louisiana’s mild winters don’t deliver the sustained chill spring bulbs need to bloom, so forcing indoors is the reliable route for tulips, hyacinths…
The Best Apple Varieties for Louisiana
Louisiana’s mild winters limit apple fruiting more than frost does, and cultivar choice must match the chill your specific parish actually receives.
When to Plant Onions in Louisiana
Louisiana onions go into the ground in fall, from October into December, not in spring like most of the country.
The Louisiana Apple Calendar, Stage by Stage
A stage-by-stage apple calendar for Louisiana, keyed to New Orleans frost dates and chill hours rather than a generic monthly planting schedule.
Watering a Garden in Louisiana: How Much, How Often, and the Local Rules
South Louisiana gardens live or die on two numbers: 70.7 days a year above 90F at the New Orleans reference station, and a growing climate that spans…
Louisiana Soil: What You Are Digging Into, and How to Improve It
Dig a shovel into most of Louisiana’s uplands and you’re hitting the Ruston series, the soil USDA names as representative of the state.
Louisiana Planting Calendar: When to Sow and Plant, Frost Dates Included
Louisiana’s frost dates run so late and so unreliable near the coast that summer heat, not frost, decides when you can plant.