What Month is the Best to Start a Garden in Houston?

It’s never too early or too late to start a garden in your Houston home. 

But knowing how to do it and when to start are the basics we need to know about. After all, growing your own food can make living in Houston cheaper and more sustainable.

Generally, the best time to plant a crop will depend on whether the plant thrives during the Spring or Summer season, or the Fall season. We also need to consider the frost-free growing season, which entails 274 days from  the 1st of March to the 30th of October.

It goes to show that for crops, flowers, and plants to grow well in Houston, full sunlight and regular watering is essential.

Today, we will discuss in detail the best time to start a garden. 

Spring and Summer crops

Spring plants include broccoli, brussel sprouts, lettuce, spinach, onions, asparagus, and other cole crops.

When growing them, we recommend you start seeding them indoors in mid December, then transplanting them outdoors in early February. It’s important to make sure that there is no more frost in the garden before replanting them there.

Planting your crops indoors allows you a headstart and an early harvest, without having the frost affecting your yield. Just be sure to move your seedlings outdoors the moment they grow too large for their pots and trays.

Summer plants, on the other hand, can be directly planted outdoors at the start of March. These include peas, corn, beans, cucumbers, pumpkin, squashes, and gourds.

Fall crops

The challenge is different when growing Fall plants, because you do need to grow and harvest them before the frost returns. That said, the deadline is on the 30th of November.

You can start seeding these plants indoors around June and July, then you should start transplanting them outdoors by late August. That’s because plants like tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers require 100 days before harvest. 

Some spring plants, including beans, peas, gourds, melons, and cole crops can directly be seeded from mid August to mid September. Just be keen on checking the growth times of each crop indicated on their seed packet.

Year-round plants

Herbs are your best bet if you prefer plants that maintain health throughout the year. While they can’t constitute a meal, they make for great ingredients and additions to the pantry.

This includes basil, lavenders, lemon balm, thyme, bay leaf, and sage.You can either add them fresh to your salads, or dry them under the sun to use in the future as seasoning.

If you’re in a cooking class, you may need some herbs to boost your dishes.