Home & garden, state by state
Everything we have worked out for Nevada: 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 Las Vegas, the last spring freeze runs January 7 to February 1 and the first fall freeze runs December 8 to December 23, USDA zones 4a-10a, 6,694 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 does well: 8.7 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Nevada: 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.
Nevada’s frost dates span from the Las Vegas desert to high mountain valleys, so this calendar shows how to calculate your own planting window using NOAA data and UNR Extension.
Nevada spans desert heat and mountain cold, so hardy perennials, native wildflowers, and heat-tolerant annuals succeed where delicate bloomers fail outright.
Nevada gardeners split into two camps every fall: those who can plant tulips straight into the ground and forget them, and those who need a refrigerator…
Apple variety choice in Nevada comes down to matching winter chill hours and cold hardiness to your elevation, not a single statewide pick.
Winter here rarely turns brutal, but it still bites often enough that the wrong firewood choice means smoky evenings, disappointing heat, or a scramble…
Nevada’s mean first fall frost swings from around December in the low desert around Las Vegas to months earlier at elevation in places like Reno or…
Onions bulb by day length, not by heat — and Nevada’s numbers put most of the state in intermediate-day territory, with a narrow band of short-day…
Nevada’s apple climate runs from cold mountain valleys to mild desert basins, and the right variety, pairing and frost timing depend on which one you’re in.
Winter in Nevada rarely feels brutal, but it lingers. The coldest month averages a nightly low of 39.6°F in the Las Vegas reference station, a figure…
Earwigs show up in Nevada gardens as soil temperatures climb in spring, not on a fixed calendar date, and they target soft seedlings, corn silks, and…