Watering a Garden in Massachusetts: How Much, How Often, and the Local Rules
Massachusetts doesn’t hand gardeners a single dry season to plan around, and that’s exactly what makes watering here tricky.
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.
Massachusetts Soil: What You Are Digging Into, and How to Improve It
Dig a few inches down almost anywhere in Massachusetts and you’re likely in Paxton territory: a slightly acid, sandy, well-drained soil that drains fast…
Planting Spring Bulbs in Massachusetts: What Will Come Back, and What Will Not
Soil temperature, not the calendar, decides when spring bulbs go in the ground here.
The Massachusetts Apple Calendar, Stage by Stage
A stage-by-stage look at how Massachusetts apple trees move from dormancy to harvest, using NOAA’s frost windows to time each step correctly.
When to Carve a Pumpkin in Massachusetts
Around Boston, the mean first fall frost lands sometime between November 3 and November 14, according to NOAA climate normals for the Logan Airport…
Massachusetts Planting Calendar: When to Sow and Plant, Frost Dates Included
This calendar gives Massachusetts gardeners the NOAA frost dates, cool- and warm-season timing, and fall planting windows needed to plan a full growing season.
Growing Onions in Massachusetts: Which Varieties Actually Bulb
Massachusetts sits at 42.36 degrees north, and on the longest day of the year the Boston area gets 15 hours and 6 minutes of daylight.
Growing Apples in Massachusetts: Varieties, Timing and Frost Risk
A look at which apple varieties survive Massachusetts winters, bloom together for pollination, and dodge the state’s variable spring frost dates.
Heating a Home in Massachusetts: What the Winter Actually Costs
Winter in Massachusetts runs long rather than brutal: the coldest month averages a low of 23.1°F, which puts the state’s furnaces and wood stoves to work…
Gardening in Massachusetts: What the Season Actually Allows
Zone 5a to 7b. Frost gone by early April, back by early November. Ten days a year past 90°F.