Waco Planting Calendar: December

WATCH FOR FROST!

You've probably already had a few frosty nights in November and know the drill. 

Under 45 degrees at night - harvest your basil leaves (if any survived November's chills).  If the basil is in a pot, bring it in.

Under 32 degrees -   Cover any annuals/vegetables that survived November (see below).

At this point in the year, as frosts get more frequent, I tend to harvest what I can from the plants that are left and let many of them go.    If there are some that you are trying to keep alive a little longer,  make sure they are well watered before a frost, then cover your plants with sheets or plastic (sheets are less likely to freeze to the plants).  I sometimes do a double layer...a sheet followed by a plastic bag.  You can places lights (such as Christmas lights) under or around them to add some heat.

Herbs and veggies to plant this month:

  
START SEEDS OUTDOORS:

Cilantro***


TRANSPLANT

Cabbage*
Kale*



Most of the info for this month's planting guide came from the Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guide.   Some info also came from   Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which are marked with.*    

* The Aggie guide, in the section on ornamentals, lists flowering cabbage and kale as annuals you can transplant through December.  I assume it still works if you want to eat them.

**Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guide says in our zone we have til November 1 to plant onion, leeks, and shallots and Month to Month Gardening in Texas says that the last date to plant onion, leeks, and shallots is Oct 1.    However, I've planted onions and chives, both seeds and onion sets, all through the fall in Waco, and had them survive all through the winter.    They do grow slower and more may die off,  but some of the onions you plant in November will survive.

***The Aggie Guide for Cilantro says to plant Cilantro weekly starting in September for a November harvest. I personally planted cilantro in Waco starting in October and going all through the winter   If it freezes it may die, but I just harvest when a freeze is predicted and then plant more in its place (and cilantro is pretty hardy...so sometimes it can survive a freeze).   Any time it warms up it will bolt.  If you know a warm spell is approaching you can harvest before that, or you can let it go to seed and have coriander (and more seeds for planting too).   I keep reseeding cilantro all winter  until the weather starts to warm in the spring.   At that point it bolts so quickly that I find it's easier to just buy cilantro at the grocery store.

Waco Planting Calendar: November

Flowers, Groundcovers, Trees and More...
While I don't usually cover these topics in my planting guide, I did try it one November, so you can go back and read my post here for tips on planting flowers and other plants this month.

WATCH FOR FROST!
Usually this is the month we'll get our first real cold weather (we get a little in late October, but it's usually stuff most plants can survive.).  Watch first for temps under 45 degrees at night...you'll want to harvest your basil leaves before it gets that cold.   When it dips below freezing (32 degrees), you'll need to decide what annuals to let go and which to try to hold onto a little longer.   Many plants can survive a short frost with some help.  Make sure they are well watered before a frost, then covering your plants with sheets or plastic (sheets are less likely to freeze to the plants--with plants I was most concerned with saving, I sometimes would do a double layer...a sheet followed by a plastic bag).  You can places lights (such as Christmas lights) under or around them to add some heat.

Herbs and veggies to plant this month:

 
START SEEDS OUTDOORS:

Carrots  (Nov 10)
Chives** (see note)
Cilantro***
Leeks** (see note)
Onions** (Nov 15)
Radish (Nov 25)
Shallots (sets...see note)**
Spinach (Nov 15)



TRANSPLANT

Cabbage*
Celery*
Kale*
Kohlrabi*
Lettuce*
Spinach*
Swiss chard*


Most of the info for this month's planting guide came from the Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guide.   Some info also came from   Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which are marked with.*   

*These are from Month to Month Gardening in Texas.    The Aggie guide doesn't list most of these as transplants, but they do list flowering cabbage and kale as annuals you can transplant through December (grouping them in with ornamentals).  

**Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guide says we have until Nov 1 to plant onions, but their article just on onions says in our zone we have til November 15.   I've planted onions and chives, both seeds and onion sets, all through the fall in Waco, and had them survive all through the winter (the article says late planting can lead to smaller onions in the spring, but since I mostly want little onions to use in the winter, this wasn't a big concern to me.)  

***The Aggie Guide for Cilantro says to plant Cilantro weekly starting in September for a November harvest. I personally planted cilantro in Waco starting in October and going all through the winter   If it freezes it may die, but I just harvest when a freeze is predicted and then plant more in its place (and cilantro is pretty hardy...so sometimes it can survive a freeze).  Any time it warms up it will bolt, but because the weather is generally cooling during this period, you at least have longer windows before that happens.    Once it's bolted I usually let cilantro go all the way to seed so I can harvest the coriander seeds (and have more seeds to plant), then pull it and replace it with more cilantro until the weather starts to warm in the spring.   At that point it bolts so quickly that I find it's cheaper and easier to just buy cilantro at the grocery store.

Waco Planting Calendar: October

Some cilantro I grew in October

. 

 Herbs and veggies to plant this month:  


START SEEDS OUTDOORS:

Arugula (by October 30)*
Beets (by Oct 15)
Carrots
Chives** (see note)
Cilantro***
Collards (by Oct 10)
Onion** (see note)
Leeks** (see note)
Lettuce, Leaf (by Oct 10)
Mustard (by Nov 1)
Parsley (by Oct 10)
Raddish
Shallots (sets)**
Squash, summer (by Sept 10)
Turnips (by Nov 1)


TRANSPLANT

Kale and Flowering Cabbage (Oct - Dec)


Most of the info for this month's planting guide came from the Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guide.   Some info also came from from the the 2023  Farmer's Almanac planting guide for Waco, which are marked with an *, and  Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which are marked with ** (and has a note below).   I've been told the Farmer's Almanac is not as accurate as the Aggie Guide, but will include info from it only for veggies not listed in the Aggie Guide.  I will also use it for dates for planting indoors to transplant if it seems to be within a reasonable period from the Aggie transplanting guidance, since their guide doesn't cover this. (But Arugula wasn't listed in the Aggie guide)

**Month to Month Gardening in Texas says that the last date to plant onion, leeks, and shallots is Oct 1.   The Aggie says in our zone we have til November 1. I've planted onions and chives, both seeds and onion sets, all through the fall in Waco, and had them survive all through the winter.

***I am not using any gardening guide for this.  I personally planted cilantro in Waco starting in October and going all through the winter.   Any time it warms up it will bolt but because the weather is generally cooling, you at least have longer windows before that happens.  

Waco Planting Calendar: September

 

Herbs and veggies to plant this month.  


START SEEDS OUTDOORS

Arugula*
Beans, Fava (Broad Beans) (by Sept 14)*
Beets
Bok Choy (by Sept 25)*
Carrots
Celery (by Sept 4)
Chives** (see note)
Collards
Dill (by Sept 18)*, ****
Kale (by Sept 29)*, ***
Kohlrabi (by Sept 10)
Onion** (see note)
Leeks** (see note)
Lettuce, Leaf
Mustard
Oregano (Sept 4)*
Parsley
Peas (by Sept 9)*
Parsnips (by Aug 12)*
Rosemary (by Sept 18)*
Shallots (sets)**
Squash, summer (by Sept 10)
Swiss Chard (by Oct 1)
Turnips


PLANT INDOORS TO TRANSPLANT
Kale***
Flowering Cabbage***

TRANSPLANT
Broccoli  (by Sept 20)
Cauliflower (by Sept 20)
Brussels Sprouts (by Sept 20)
Cabbage (by Sept 20)


MORE PLANTING TIPS

• This is the month to transplant iris and calla lily.  There's a great video on how to divide and transplant iris here.  (But if they don't absolutely need dividing, possibly wait until next year.)
  
  
• Providing some shade for your plants may help with September heat.  Dorris at FlipFlopGardener suggests plant umbrellas (and gives some nifty instructions on how to set them up.   I've used plastic flowers to shade my read seedlings until they were strong enough to grow without shade, and it worked well. 

Some info from this page (but I'm not sure what...cause this is a post I re-did from a previous post) may have come from the Mother Earth News Website.

SOURCES 

Most of the info for this month's planting guide came from the Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guides.   Some info also came from from the the 2023  Farmer's Almanac planting guide for Waco   which are marked with an *, and  Month to Month Gardening in Texas, which are marked with ** (and has a note below).   I've been told the Farmer's Almanac is not as accurate as the Aggie Guide, but will include info from it only for veggies not listed in the Aggie Guide.  I will also use it for dates for planting indoors to transplant if it seems to be within a reasonable period from the Aggie transplanting guidance, since their guide doesn't cover this.

**Month to Month Gardening in Texas says that the last date to plant onion, leeks, and shallots is Oct 1.   The Aggie says in our zone we have til November 1. I've planted onions and chives, both seeds and onion sets, all through the fall in Waco, and had them survive all through the winter.  

*** The Aggie Fall Direct Seeding Guides says that Kale should only be transplanted, but the Farmer's Almanac planting guide for Waco listed a last planting date for seeds.   Proceed with caution if you decide to plant these from seeds.   I estimated the time to plant indoors to transplant as that was not included in either guide.

**** I have successfully planted dill in the fall, but I can't remember when I planted, so I'm going with the Farmer's Almanac "last planting date" here, even though it conflicts with their other planting dates.  The Aggie guide doesn't mention dill.

Waco Garden Calendar: May

May is not a big month for planting, at least in your vegetable garden (which is what is tracked here).   There's only two veggies that can still be planted this month, and both are the last chance to plant these this season:

• Southern Peas (before May 20)
• Sweet Potato (slips - before May 15)
  
  

I got the info for what to plant this month from Texas A&M planting guide.

Waco Garden Calendar: April

 

What to plant in April:  

April is a BIG month for planting.   There is a LOT of things that can be planted this month, and not much left to plant in your veggie garden by May. 

I originally got this info from a book called Month-to-Month Gardening in Texas, but have now updated it with the Aggie Spring Planting Guide, which I assume is updated for more current seasonal weather conditions due to climate change.   A few of the pics no longer match but I'm a bit lazy to change it.  

This is the last month this Spring to plant the items in bold.    The rest you have time to plant later if you want to.

DIRECT SEED

Cantaloups (May 1)

Beans, Bush (April 15)

Beans, Lima (April 15)

Corn (May 1)

Cucumber (May 1)

Eggplant (May 1)

Peas, southern

Sweet Potato (slips)

Pumpkin (April 20)

Radish (May 1)

Squash, summer (May 1)

Watermelon  (May 1)

TRANSPLANT

Pepper (May 1)

Tomatoes (April 10)

---

I found the photos for my mosaic on Flickr, and the photographers were nice enough to offer up for use through Creative Commons (click on the links to see the photos larger).  Yes, the Sountern Peas (ie cowpeas) in that picture are blighted (that was just a hard one to find, so I took what I could get.) 

PHOTO CREDITS:  
1. Cantaloupes, 2. Collards*, 3. Corn, 4. Cucumber, 5. Cushaw (and Pumpkins) 6. Eggplant, 7. Melons (honeydew), 8. Lima Beans, 9. Luffa, 10. Malabar Spinach, 11. Okra, 12. Peppers, 13. Pumpkin., 14. Snapbeans (19), 15. Southern Peas, 16. Summer Squash, 17. Sweet Potatoes, 18. Swiss Chard*, 19. Tomato 20. Watermelon

*Aggie Guide now suggests an earlier plant by date, so these are no longer listed to plant this month.