Zone 8 planting calendar
What to plant, pick and tend, month by month
Typical windows for Atlanta beds, built from the average last frost in late March or early April and the first frost around mid-November. Your own yard can run a week or two either way.
- Dormant season
January
Too cold for most seed, right for building beds and planting dormant fruit.
Plant: Bare-root blueberries, figs and fruit trees while they are dormant
Pick: Collards, kale, turnip greens and any carrots still in the ground
Tend: Build and fill beds, order seed, prune blueberries and pears
- Cool-season sowing
February
The first seed goes in, and the tomatoes start indoors.
Plant: Peas, spinach, radishes and lettuce, then potatoes from mid-month
Pick: Kale, collards and overwintered greens
Tend: Start tomato and pepper seed indoors, top up beds with compost
- Cool-season planting
March
Cool-season transplants go out while a late frost is still possible.
Plant: Broccoli, cabbage and kale transplants, plus beets, chard and carrots
Pick: Spinach and radishes toward the end of the month
Tend: Keep frost cloth handy, mulch the beds, harden off tomato seedlings
- Warm-season planting
April
After the last frost, the summer garden goes in.
Plant: Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, then beans, squash, cucumbers and basil
Pick: Lettuce, peas, radishes and spring greens
Tend: Set up trellises and stake tomatoes at planting, check the drip line
- Warm-season planting
May
Heat-lovers go in, and the cool-season crops finish.
Plant: Okra, southern peas, sweet potato slips, melons and pole beans
Pick: The last lettuce, peas, herbs and early squash
Tend: Mulch thickly, water deeply in the morning, pinch back basil
- Summer harvest
June
The first tomatoes come in, and the bed needs water every day or two.
Plant: Okra, southern peas and sweet potato slips through mid-month
Pick: Squash, cucumbers, beans, the first tomatoes and rabbiteye blueberries
Tend: Shade sensitive greens, tie up tomatoes, keep the drip timer honest
- Summer heat
July
Pick every day, and start the fall garden's seed indoors.
Plant: Bush beans and cucumbers for fall, broccoli and cabbage seed indoors
Pick: Tomatoes, peppers, okra, blueberries and the first figs
Tend: Pull spent plants, pick okra young, check emitters for clogs
- Fall garden starts
August
Still hot, but the fall garden begins in the last weeks of the month.
Plant: Broccoli, cabbage and collard transplants, then carrots and beets late
Pick: Figs, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and the first muscadines
Tend: Refresh beds with compost and shade new seedlings for their first week
- Fall planting
September
Cooler nights bring the second planting season.
Plant: Lettuce, spinach, radishes, turnips and kale, plus more carrots and beets
Pick: Peppers, muscadines, and sweet potatoes toward the end of the month
Tend: Top up beds, plant transplants in the evening, keep seed rows damp
- Fall planting
October
Garlic goes in, and so do the fruit shrubs.
Plant: Garlic and shallots from mid-month, spinach, lettuce, then blueberries late
Pick: Sweet potatoes before cold nights, peppers and persimmons
Tend: Sow crimson clover on empty beds, rake leaves into a mulch pile
- First frost
November
The first frost usually lands around mid-month, so pick what can't take it.
Plant: Garlic through mid-month, fruit trees and shrubs, spring bulbs
Pick: Peppers and green tomatoes before the frost, then collards and kale
Tend: Row cover over greens, mulch with shredded leaves, drain the hoses
- Dormant season
December
A quiet month for greens, bare-root planting and plans.
Plant: Bare-root blueberries and fruit trees as the dormant season starts
Pick: Collards, kale, turnips, carrots and lettuce under cover
Tend: Mulch with shredded leaves, plan next year's layout, clean and sharpen tools
By crop
When each crop goes in
Every crop has two Atlanta windows or one. These are the typical ones, in plain terms.
Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant
Transplants go out from mid-April to early May, after the last frost. A second round of tomatoes can follow in early July.
Beans, squash and cucumbers
Sow from mid-April into June, then again in July and early August for a fall crop.
Okra, southern peas and sweet potatoes
These want warm soil: sow or plant from May into mid-June.
Lettuce, spinach and radishes
Sow from late February through March, and again from September into October.
Broccoli, cabbage, kale and collards
Set transplants out from late February to March, and again from mid-August through September.
Carrots, beets and turnips
Sow from February into March, and again from late August through September.
Potatoes and onions
Plant seed potatoes from mid-February through March. Onion sets go in at the same time.
Garlic
Plant cloves from mid-October through mid-November, and pick the following early summer.
Blueberries, figs and fruit trees
Plant bare-root shrubs and trees while they're dormant, from late October through February.
Why dates shift
The calendar is a guide, not a promise
Frost dates are averages. A warm March can tempt you early, and a cold snap in April can still cost you a bed of seedlings.
What moves the dates
Watch the forecast for the week after you plant
Harden seedlings off for several days before they go out
Tall and steel beds warm, and dry, faster than low cedar ones
A bed against a south wall can run a week ahead of one in the open
Questions
About the calendar
Is my yard really zone 8?
Most of Atlanta sits in zone 8 on the USDA map, with a few warm pockets and colder edges a half zone either way. Your last frost matters more than the zone number, and it moves by a week or two every year.
How much sun does a vegetable bed need?
Six hours of direct sun is a good floor for tomatoes, peppers and squash. Leafy greens and herbs get by with less. We check the sun with you at the visit, hour by hour, before a bed goes in.
Can you plant it for me?
Yes. Our seasonal planting visits follow this calendar: we pull what's finished and plant what's next, with seedlings we choose together.
Want the calendar planted for you?
We come on the dates, pull what's done and plant what's next.