The Rhode Island Lawn Care Calendar, Month by Month
A month-by-month guide to feeding, mowing, and seeding a cool-season lawn in Rhode Island, based on Providence’s frost dates and extension guidance.
Gardening in Rhode Island
Everything we have worked out for Rhode Island: 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 Providence, the last spring freeze runs April 7 to April 17 and the first fall freeze runs October 24 to November 3, USDA zones 6a-7b, 3,229 growing degree days in the year.
Garlic does well: 26.1 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Rhode Island: 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.
Forcing Spring Bulbs Indoors in Rhode Island
Forcing works in Rhode Island because it lets a gardener control the two things winter normally controls on its own: how many weeks of cold a bulb gets…
Growing Spring Bulbs in Containers in Rhode Island
Rhode Island’s winters run cold enough that spring bulbs don’t need help meeting their dormancy requirement outdoors.
Planting Spring Bulbs in Rhode Island: What Will Come Back, and What Will Not
Plant spring bulbs in Rhode Island from mid-September through the third week of October, and expect nearly every classic variety, tulips, daffodils…
Canning at Altitude in Rhode Island: What Your Elevation Changes
Providence sits at just 7 feet above sea level, squarely inside the 0-2,000 foot elevation band where the U.S.
The Rhode Island Apple Calendar, Stage by Stage
A stage-by-stage Rhode Island apple calendar anchored to NOAA’s Providence frost dates, with what changes by region and the mistakes that cost a crop.
Firewood in Rhode Island: Which Woods Your Winter Actually Needs
Providence’s coldest month averages a nightly low of 22.1°F, cold enough that heating with wood here is a real strategy, not just ambiance.
Watering a Garden in Rhode Island: How Much, How Often, and the Local Rules
Rhode Island’s growing season runs roughly six and a half months, but the state also logs 9.4 days a year at 90F or hotter, hot enough to dry out a bed…
Rhode Island Soil: What You Are Digging Into, and How to Improve It
Push a trowel into a typical Rhode Island garden bed and the odds favor a silty, strongly acid loam called the Narragansett series, the soil USDA lists…
Growing Onions in Rhode Island: Which Varieties Actually Bulb
Rhode Island gardeners work with roughly 15 hours of daylight at the summer solstice, measured at the Providence station.