What Every Gardener Should Know About Their Growing Space

Knowing your garden’s growing conditions helps you select the right plants, plan for seasonal changes, and make sustainable choices. Use these tips to create your own garden profile, covering everything from frost dates to soil health, for better planning and long-term success.

The Empress of Dirt Printable Garden Planner is made for this type of garden planning.

Create a Garden Profile

One of the most valuable steps in becoming a better gardener is creating a detailed profile of your garden.

A garden profile is simply a descriptive list of your unique growing conditions.

Once gathered, you can use the information to guide your garden decisions.

A garden profile helps guide the big picture—what you can and should grow based on your conditions—and how you can shape your choices to support the local ecosystem.

I’ll walk you through what you need and where to find it.

Be sure to keep notes on the front page of your garden planner or journal so you can refer back to it whenever needed.

As you gain garden experience, you’ll start knowing all this information by heart.

Garden Profile Information

Your average last frost date in spring and first frost date in fall.
How many frost-free days you typically have from spring to fall.
Your plant hardiness zone. Plant tags list zone tolerances.
Your growing conditions (soil type and fertility, sun conditions, wind, water, drainage).
Your ecoregion: which plants suit your climate and growing conditions?

Frost Dates

For average first and last frost dates and hardiness zone, you only need look up this information once. This information helps guide various sowing and planting decisions including plant choices and timing. Researchers update the data every so often so you may notice subtle changes over time, but ballpark dates and numbers are fine for garden planning.

You can tell by the word “average” that the actual first and last frost days will vary each year.

In any given year, your last frost date in spring may be a few days or weeks before or after the average.

But, by knowing the average, we have a date on the calendar to help make planting decisions, separating the plants that can tolerate some frost and cold from those that cannot, while allowing a buffer period in between.

It’s also useful to count your frost-free days. This is the number of days between your average last frost in spring and first frost in autumn. Seed packets and catalogs for annuals and vegetables often mention how many frost free days the plants will need to mature.

If you’re new to reading seed packets, hello and welcome, and here are some tips.

For spring planting, I always consider the average last frost date and the weather forecast and error on the side of caution. It’s just not worth losing plants to a late frost because I feel impatient for spring gardening.

Hardiness Zone

Your plant hardiness zone is important for plant selections in general. It’s related to the lowest average winter temperatures in your area to ensure you don’t choose plants that can’t cope with those lows.

While a helpful metric, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Gardens thousands of miles apart can have the same hardiness zone but very different growing conditions.

So, consider the hardiness zone when making plant choices but also include other key factors like soil, nutrient needs, water, wind, and light (discussed below).

Find Your Frost Dates & Hardiness Zone

Plant Hardiness Zones | United States | Canada
These are listed on seed packets and plant tags to guide your choices.

Average Frost Dates | Use this calculator at Almanac.com. Enter your city and state or province to find your first and last frost dates and number of frost-free days.

Ecoregion | Learn about local native plants, animal species, and environmental conditions to make garden choices that benefit your ecosystem.

Learn More: Understanding Frosts & Freezing For Gardeners

Growing Conditions

Understanding growing conditions is a combination of gathering data and your own personal observations over time.

One of my favorite parts of gardening is watching things change through the seasons and noticing how no two gardening years are ever the same. Some years favor some plants; other years favor other plants. And it’s always a mixed bag.

Light in the spring garden is very different than light in the summer or fall. And light varies at different times of day, of course.
Soil on one side of the garden may be hard clay while another section is silky sand.
Water: parts of the garden may be well-draining while other areas stay waterlogged after a rain.
Wind may habitually dry out plants (and test their strength!) in open areas while leaving sheltered plants alone.

To get your bearings, get some soil tests done (with samples taken from different parts of the garden). If you have concerns, check that the soil is not contaminated (and therefore unsafe for food growing) as well as learning about its fertility (nutrient profile). We never want to add fertilizer unless it is truly needed since excess causes a range of environmental issues.

Soil pH levels are also good to know since the pH level affects nutrient uptake although it’s more informational than actionable since it’s a big undertaking to try and change the nature of your soil.

If you’re in the United States, check your local extension offices to see if testing is offered.

Here in Canada, we paid for tests through a university that services the agricultural sector. The reports focus on nutrient / fertilizer recommendations (geared for farms not home gardens) but we did also gain a better understanding of our soil (and how poor it is!) as well.

If you can find an accredited testing facility geared to home gardeners, that’s the best option.

Take time to observe where your garden gets sun, part-shade, and shade—and when.

And simply pay attention ongoing—your observations will serve you well.

Ecoregion

Finally, but perhaps most importantly, learn about the plants and animals that bring your local ecosystem to life. This will include both native plants and plants well-adapted to your area and all the living things that rely on them.

Find resources dedicated to your specific region along with joining groups like the North American Native Plant Society.

As a whole, this information will guide your garden choices—in a beneficial way—for years to come.