What to Plant in North Carolina in June
By June, North Carolina’s Piedmont is squarely in warm-season territory: safe to direct-sow beans, squash, melons, okra, and sweet potato slips, since…
Gardening in North Carolina
Everything we have worked out for North Carolina: 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 Charlotte, the last spring freeze runs March 23 to April 5 and the first fall freeze runs October 30 to November 8, USDA zones 5b-8b, 4,943 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 North Carolina: 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.
What to Plant in North Carolina in July
July in North Carolina sits deep in the growing season, past the last spring frost and months from the first fall frost, so the answer is heat-tolerant…
What to Plant in North Carolina in January
In the North Carolina Piedmont, nothing tender goes into open ground in January.
What to Plant in North Carolina in February
February in North Carolina still sits weeks ahead of the last frost across most of the state, so this is a month for cold-hardy crops, dormant planting…
What to Plant in North Carolina in December
December in North Carolina sits weeks past the first fall frost across most of the Piedmont, so the open garden is largely closed for direct sowing.
What to Plant in North Carolina in August
August in the North Carolina Piedmont sits roughly 90 to 100 days ahead of the first fall frost (October 30 to November 8), which makes it one of the…
What to Plant in North Carolina in April
By April, most of North Carolina’s Piedmont has cleared its last frost window (March 23 to April 5, per NOAA climate normals for Charlotte), which means…
Growing Peppers in North Carolina: Fruit Set, Heat and Timing
Fruit set in North Carolina peppers hinges on two thresholds crossing in the same window: nights need to stay above 55 F and days need to stay below 90 F.
Growing Potatoes in North Carolina: Dates, Varieties and Summer Heat
In Charlotte, North Carolina, summer air hits 90°F or higher on 35 days a year on average, and the last spring frost falls between March 23 and April 5.
Pepper Varieties That Ripen in a North Carolina Season
Charlotte’s Piedmont averages 35.0 days a year at or above 90°F, and that heat load is the reason pepper harvests here run long but never carefree.