Seasonal care calendar by USDA hardiness zone
Pick your USDA zone and get a month-by-month outdoor garden task list. Tasks pulled from Cornell, Penn State, NC State, and UMN Extension publications. Not a generic listicle - these are the things that actually move the needle each month for ornamental gardens.
Free · No signup · Based on Extension publicationsDon't know your zone? Use the zone finder by ZIP.
How to use a seasonal calendar (without becoming its slave)
These are anchor tasks - the things that, if you skip them, you will pay for the rest of the season. They are not an exhaustive list of every garden chore. The dates assume average conditions for the zone; a cold spring or warm fall shifts everything by 1-3 weeks. The single best calibration is your local average last frost date and average first frost date - look both up in the frost date tool and treat them as your zero points.
If you have a soil thermometer, that beats any calendar. Soil at 50F at 4 inches depth means cool-season crops can go in. Soil at 60F means warm-season seeds will germinate. Soil at 65-70F is when peppers and basil really start growing. Air temperature is a poor proxy for soil temperature in spring.
Sources: Cornell Cooperative Extension monthly garden checklists, Penn State Extension, NC State Extension Gardener Handbook, UMN Extension Yard and Garden.