Okay – stay with me now!
Of all of these I bet you’re most familiar with zones. I’m talking about the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones. The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is what gardeners have been using for years to figure out what plants have the most optimum chance of growing in a particular location. Most recently revised by the PRISM Climate Group at Oregon State University and released by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 2012, the map uses winter temperature data collected over a 30-year period to divide the United States (including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico) into planting zones. The zones identified in this most recent version of the Map are based on data gathered during 1976 to 2005, the first time that a period of 30 years has been analyzed. And there are now two new zones – Zones 12 and 13 which cover Hawaii and Puerto Rico and only appear on the maps for those locations. This is the first time that the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map was specifically designed for use on the Internet. You can now input your zip code and your specific Plant Hardiness Zone will appear.
While the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map has certainly been around for a while and provides very useful information for gardeners, it’s not the only resource gardeners can rely on to plan a garden. And sometimes Plant Hardiness Zones can be confusing. For example, the Atlanta area falls within Zones 7 and 8 (which are then divided into Zones 7a and 7b, and Zones 8a and 8b). Now what?
Enter the Growing Seasons. Using your garden location, you can figure out which of the four growing seasons you’re in.
Here in the Atlanta area, only three of the growing seasons occur – but at various times. Looking at the calendar year, the cool season runs from January through March, the warm season runs from April through June, and the hot season is…
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