Growing Spinach in Massachusetts: When Will It Bolt?
Spinach sown in a Massachusetts garden will typically bolt as late spring pushes past the cool window, somewhere between mid-May and mid-June depending…
Gardening in Massachusetts
Everything we have worked out for Massachusetts: 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 Boston, the last spring freeze runs April 1 to April 8 and the first fall freeze runs November 3 to November 14, USDA zones 5a-7b, 3,084 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 Massachusetts: 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.
Growing Pumpkins in Massachusetts: Will They Ripen in Time?
In Massachusetts, a pumpkin flower needs to open by roughly mid-September to have a real shot at turning orange before the vine gets frozen.
Will Carrots Fork in Massachusetts Soil?
Massachusetts’s official state soil, the Paxton series, is sandy and well drained, exactly the texture Utah State University Extension says carrots need…
When to Sow Beets in Massachusetts
The short window is mid to late March. Massachusetts gardeners sow beet seed 2 to 3 weeks before the last spring frost, and that frost date runs from…
Beet Soil in Massachusetts: What the Root Will Meet
Plant a beet in Massachusetts and the root drops into ground that formed only a few thousand years ago under glacial till: acid, sandy, quick to drain…
Growing Parsnips in Massachusetts: Will They Sweeten?
Yes. Massachusetts gives parsnips exactly what they need to turn sweet: a run of genuinely cold weeks after the roots mature, not just a mild dip below…
When to Start Pepper Seed in Massachusetts
Massachusetts gardeners get one real shot at pepper season, and it starts on a windowsill, not in the garden bed.
Why Peppers Fail to Set Fruit in Massachusetts
Massachusetts peppers stall for two separate reasons that often get blamed on one thing.
Growing Carrots in Massachusetts: Soil, Sowing and Forked Roots
Massachusetts carrots do best in soil that drains fast and stays loose past the first foot, because the state’s own representative soil, sandy and mildly…
Growing Beets in Massachusetts: Soil, Sowing and Bolting
In Massachusetts, beets do best sown directly into deep, well-drained, sandy soil with organic matter worked in, about two to three weeks before the last…