New to Gardening?

Here’s what you can do right now.

1. Determine your first average frost date. If you’re growing outside, you’ll want to grow plants that are ready to eat before it freezes outside.
2. Choose what you want to grow. You’re in luck, because some of the easiest plants to grow are also the fastest growing. Peas, radishes, greens, and herbs can be great options for this time of year. Select seeds that are organic and non-GMO.
3. Check the back of your seed packet. All seed packets will tell you how long plants need to mature. Count backward from your frost date to ensure you have enough time.
4. If your frost date is too soon for the plants you want to grow, plant in containers that you can bring indoors. Don’t have outdoor space or worried that your frost date is too soon? You can grow food indoors year-round.
5. Plant, water, and harvest according to the instructions on your seed pack.
6. Enjoy your delicious, nutritious, hyper-local food.
7. Add your Climate Victory Garden to the map!

Yard & Garden Tasks

for late summer and fall

Sick of your lawn? This is a great time to replace that turf grass with a carbon-capturing, biodiverse meadow.

Always wanted to compost? Fall is a great time to start composting because: LEAVES! Leaves make an excellent and abundant compost material this time of year. Pile your leaves—and your neighbors if they have extra—with alternating layers of soil and/or coffee grounds. (Not a coffee drinker? Tea leaves work too!) Water thoroughly and protect the pile from blowing away. By spring, materials will break down into nutrient rich compost.

Planting perennials is an important part of Climate Victory Gardening, because of their ability to capture carbon and protect soils. Many perennials prefer to be planted in the fall.

Provide important over-wintering habitat for pollinators, no matter what kind of yard or garden you have. Old corn stalks? Flowers past their prime? Leave these in the ground to cover and protect soils. If you don’t like how it looks, consider pushing the dead material flat on the ground so it’s less visible but still provides the nooks and crannies for beneficial insects to wait out the cold season.

Inspired to Start a Garden?

Join thousands of gardeners across the country planting and growing for the planet.

Thanks for gardening for people and the planet,