Plant Growing Guides

Tomatoes

The most popular home garden crop — warm-season, sun-loving, and endlessly rewarding.

Peppers

Heat-loving fruits, from sweet bells to fiery chilies, that reward patience with warmth.

Cucumbers

Fast, prolific vines that deliver crisp fruit all summer with steady water.

Zucchini & Summer Squash

Famously productive — one or two plants can feed a whole household.

Lettuce

The fastest, easiest cool-season green — perfect for succession sowing.

Spinach

Cold-hardy, nutrient-dense green that thrives in cool spring and fall weather.

Kale

Tough, cold-hardy leafy green that actually tastes sweeter after frost.

Carrots

Sweet roots that demand loose soil and patience but store beautifully.

Beans

Easy, fast, and soil-improving — a perfect crop for new gardeners.

Peas

The first crop of spring — sweet, cool-loving, and best eaten straight off the vine.

Broccoli

Cool-season brassica that needs steady cool weather to form tight heads.

Radishes

The fastest vegetable you can grow — ready in as little as three weeks.

Beets

Two crops in one — sweet roots below and nutritious greens above.

Garlic

Plant in fall, harvest next summer — one of the most low-maintenance crops.

Onions

Day-length-driven bulbs — choosing the right type for your latitude is everything.

Potatoes

Hill them up and harvest a hidden treasure — a satisfying, high-yield staple.

Sweet Corn

Sun-drenched summer ears, sweetest the moment they leave the stalk.

Eggplant

Glossy heat-lovers that need real warmth to set their velvety fruit.

Cabbage

Dense, cool-season heads that sweeten in frost and store for months.

Cauliflower

The fussiest brassica — reward steady cool weather with snow-white curds.

Swiss Chard

The most forgiving leafy green — colorful, productive, and slow to bolt.

Winter Squash

Sprawling vines that trade space and sun for storable, sweet keeper squash.

Pumpkins

Big, sprawling vines that turn a sunny summer into a fall centerpiece.

Watermelon

The taste of summer — long, hot days turn into sweet, dripping slices.

Cantaloupe

Fragrant, netted melons that perfume the whole garden when ripe.

Okra

A heat-thriving Southern classic that pumps out pods all summer long.

Asparagus

A patient gardener’s dream — one planting that feeds you for decades.

Sweet Potatoes

Heat-loving tropical roots grown from slips for a big fall dig.

Celery

A thirsty, long-season crop that rewards patience with crisp, fragrant stalks.

Brussels Sprouts

A long-season brassica that turns fall frosts into sweet, nutty sprouts.

Turnips

A fast, fuss-free dual crop — tender greens up top and sweet roots below.

Leeks

Patient, cold-hardy alliums with a sweet, mild onion flavor and long season.

Arugula

A peppery, lightning-fast salad green that thrives in cool weather.

Kohlrabi

An alien-looking brassica with a crisp, sweet, broccoli-meets-apple bulb.

Parsnips

A long-season root that turns frost into deep, nutty sweetness.

Rhubarb

A jewel-stalked perennial “fruit vegetable” that returns bigger every spring for decades.

Fennel

Anise-scented crisp bulbs and feathery fronds — a fall-crop reward that demands cool weather and steady moisture.

Artichoke

A bold, architectural perennial grown for its edible flower buds — beautiful, productive, and best harvested before the bloom.

Bok Choy

The fastest-growing brassica — crisp, mild, and table-ready in as little as a month.

Edamame

Sweet, protein-packed soybeans harvested young — as easy as bush beans and ready in one summer.

Basil

The quintessential summer herb — warmth-loving, fragrant, and quick from seed.

Cilantro

Cool-season herb that gives leaves (cilantro) and seeds (coriander) from one plant.

Parsley

A hardy, productive biennial herb that tolerates cold and even partial shade.

Mint

Vigorous and nearly unkillable — just keep it contained or it takes over.

Rosemary

Drought-tolerant Mediterranean shrub — perennial in mild zones, a pot plant elsewhere.

Thyme

A tough, low-growing perennial herb that thrives on poor soil and neglect.

Dill

Feathery, aromatic foliage and seed heads — and a magnet for beneficial insects.

Oregano

A tough, sun-loving Mediterranean perennial that thrives on neglect.

Sage

A soft, silvery, woody perennial herb that loves sun and sharp drainage.

Chives

A no-fuss perennial allium with mild onion flavor and edible purple flowers.

Chamomile

Apple-scented daisy flowers beloved for tea — one of the easiest self-sowing herbs you can grow.

French Tarragon

The essential herb of French cuisine — anise-scented, perennial, and only authentic from cuttings, never from seed.

Strawberries

The first fruit most gardeners grow — perennial, productive, and great in containers.

Blueberries

Long-lived, beautiful shrubs — the catch is they demand acidic soil.

Raspberries

Easy perennial canes that pay back a sunny corner with summers of fruit.

Blackberries

Vigorous, heat-tolerant brambles that deliver pails of late-summer fruit.

Grapes

A long-lived vine that trades patience and pruning for baskets of fruit.

Figs

Sun-loving, low-fuss trees that reward warmth with soft, honeyed fruit.

Apples

The classic backyard orchard tree — needs a partner, patience, and a little pruning.

Pears

Forgiving, long-lived orchard trees that ripen best off the branch.

Peaches

Fast-bearing, self-fertile stone fruit for warm, sunny gardens.

Plums

Productive stone-fruit trees in cold-hardy European and juicy Japanese types.

Currants

Cold-hardy, shade-tolerant berry shrubs that crop heavily with little fuss.

Sunflowers

Big, cheerful, and foolproof from seed — a favorite with kids and pollinators.

Zinnias

The easiest cut flower — heat-loving, fast, and the more you cut the more you get.

Marigolds

Cheerful, tough, pest-deterring companions for the vegetable garden.

Dahlias

Show-stopping summer-to-frost blooms grown from tender tubers.

Cosmos

Airy, effortless daisies that bloom for months and adore poor soil.

Snapdragons

Cool-season spires of jewel-toned blooms that shrug off light frost.

Black-eyed Susans

Golden, daisy-like prairie flowers that bloom for months and feed pollinators.

Coneflowers

Hardy, drought-proof perennials with bold daisy blooms loved by pollinators.

Tulips

Spring’s headline act — fall-planted bulbs in every color imaginable.

Daffodils

Cheerful, deer-proof spring bulbs that naturalize and return for decades.

Sweet Peas

Old-fashioned climbing annuals with intensely fragrant, ruffled blooms.

Peonies

Lush, fragrant late-spring blooms from a perennial that can outlive you.

Pansies

Cheerful cool-season faces that shrug off frost in spring and fall.

Lavender

Fragrant, silvery, sun-baked perennial spikes that bees can’t resist.

Nasturtiums

Peppery, edible flowers and leaves that thrive on neglect and smother weeds.

Calendula

Glowing orange and yellow cool-season blooms with edible petals and a centuries-old herbal tradition.

Roses

America’s most beloved flower — stunning, fragrant, and far easier with the right variety.

Bachelor's Buttons

Old-fashioned cobalt-blue cutting flowers that sow themselves and bloom for months.

Morning Glories

Fast-climbing annual vines that drench fences and trellises in trumpet-shaped blooms from summer until frost.