Forty-Three Guides, One Garden, Zero Fluff
Growing Guides
Real, step-by-step advice from our own upstate South Carolina beds. Not a seed packet summary, and not a national gardening manual that’s never seen our clay soil or our July heat.
Vegetables
23 guidesThe workhorses of the summer garden, the ones we grow every single year without fail.
Herbs
8 guidesFast, forgiving, and the difference between a good dinner and a great one.
Flowers
10 guidesNot just for looks, every one of these earns its place by drawing in pollinators or keeping pests off the vegetables nearby.
Fruit
5 guidesLong-season vines that want room to sprawl, but nothing store-bought compares once they ripen.
Upstate SC Seasonal Planting Calendar
We’re zone 7b/8a here, with a last frost around mid-April and a first frost in early-to-mid November. This is what we’re actually doing in the garden each month: use it as a starting point, not gospel, since a late cold snap or an early heat wave will always have the final say.
| Month | Start indoors | Direct sow / transplant | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | – | – | Order seeds, plan beds, sharpen tools. |
| February | Bell peppers, jalapenos (early–mid month, 8–10 wks before last frost) | Lettuce, cilantro if soil is workable | Peppers are slow to germinate; get them going early under lights or on a heat mat. |
| March | Tomatoes, basil (mid–late month) | Lettuce, cilantro (succession) | Start hardening off peppers toward month’s end. |
| April | – | After mid-month: transplant peppers & tomatoes; direct-sow green beans, sunflowers, zucchini (late month) | Harden off all transplants 7–10 days before they go in the ground. |
| May | – | Cucumbers, more zucchini, green beans, sunflowers | Peak planting month. Begin succession sowing beans and zucchini every 2–3 weeks. |
| June | – | Succession beans, zucchini, cucumbers; last sunflower sowing for fall blooms | Watch for squash vine borer and cucumber beetles as it heats up. |
| July | Fall lettuce & cilantro (indoors or in shade, late month) | Fall cucumbers, fall green beans (early–mid month) | Peak heat. Water deeply and mulch everything. |
| August | – | Fall green beans, transplant fall lettuce starts (late month) | Tomatoes often stall above 90°F; expect a slow month, then a fall rebound. |
| September | – | Lettuce, cilantro, spinach, kale | Nights cooling off, bolting risk drops fast. |
| October | – | Last fall greens sowing, early month | Watch the forecast; first frost usually lands early–mid November. |
| November | – | – | Clean up beds, mulch what’s overwintering, let the soil rest. |
| December | – | – | Order next year’s seeds and dream about tomatoes. |
Ready to plant?
Every guide above links straight to the real seeds we sell.