Year-Round Planting Guide for North Texas (What to Plant, Every Season)
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North Texas gardening runs on its own clock, and it takes most people a full year or two of trial and error to figure that out. Spring here does not look like spring anywhere else. Summer can knock out a garden by July if you are not ready for it. And fall, somehow, ends up being the most productive season of the whole year, even though nobody warns you about that when you are starting out.
This guide breaks the whole year down season by season, so you always know what should be going in the ground and what you should be doing right now to set yourself up for the next stretch. Keep it bookmarked. You will come back to it more than once.
Late Winter (January–February): The Quiet Setup Season
This is the season nobody gets excited about, but it is where a good year actually starts. The ground is often still too cold to plant much outdoors, but there is plenty to do behind the scenes.
What to do:
- Start tomato and pepper seeds indoors in January so transplants are ready to go out by late February or March.
- Plant onion sets and seed potatoes outdoors once the ground is workable, usually by mid to late February.
- Direct sow cool-season crops like spinach and Swiss chard outdoors as soil allows.
- Prune dormant fruit trees and shrubs before new growth starts.
Quick win: get onions in early. The longer they sit in the ground before bulbing, the bigger they get, so late planting is one of the easiest ways to shortchange your harvest before it even starts.
Spring (March–May): The Busy Season
Once the average last frost date passes, usually around mid-March in most of North Texas, the pace picks up fast. This is when the garden really comes alive.
What to plant:
- Tomato and pepper transplants, once the frost risk has passed
- Squash, cucumbers, and beans, direct sown once soil has warmed
- Basil, cilantro (before it gets too hot), and other warm-season herbs
- Annual flowers like zinnias, marigolds, and cosmos for color through summer
What to do:
- Mulch everything as soon as it goes in the ground. Spring in Texas warms up faster than people expect, and mulch buys you time before the real heat sets in.
- Watch the forecast closely through March. A late freeze is common enough that keeping row cover on hand is worth it even after you have already planted.
Early Summer (June): The Last Good Window
June is your last real chance to get heat-loving crops established before the worst of the Texas summer arrives. Anything planted much later than this is racing conditions that are already working against it.
What to plant:
- Okra, which genuinely thrives in Texas heat once summer fully arrives
- Southern peas and sweet potatoes, both of which handle the heat well
- Heat-tolerant herbs like rosemary and oregano
Quick win: if your spring tomatoes are struggling to set fruit once nighttime temperatures climb into the mid-70s, that is normal, not a mistake on your part. Tomatoes stop setting fruit reliably in extreme heat and will pick back up once fall cools things off.
Peak Summer (July–Early August): Survival Mode
This is the stretch where most Texas gardens quietly fall apart if nobody is paying attention. It is less about planting and more about keeping what you already have alive.
What to focus on:
- Water deeply and less frequently rather than a quick daily sprinkle, which encourages roots to stay shallow and more vulnerable to heat stress.
- Keep mulch topped up. It is one of the cheapest, most effective tools you have against Texas summer heat.
- Harvest okra, peppers, and southern peas regularly. Letting produce sit too long on the plant slows down further production.
- Hold off on any major new planting except for the most heat-tolerant options. Most crops planted now will simply struggle against the conditions.
Right now, since we are in late July heading into August, this is the exact moment to start planning your fall garden even though it does not feel like it yet. Order seeds, get transplants lined up at the nursery, and start clearing out any beds that are done producing.
Fall (Late August–November): The Best Season Nobody Talks About
This is the season that surprises most new North Texas gardeners. The soil is still warm, the worst heat is fading, and there is a long, mild stretch ahead before the first frost, which typically lands sometime in November.
What to plant, starting late August into September:
- Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage transplants
- Carrots, beets, turnips, and radishes, direct sown
- Lettuce, spinach, and other salad greens
- Kale and collards, both of which actually get sweeter after a light frost
What to do:
- Clear out anything left over from summer before replanting, and skip composting anything that looked diseased or bug-ridden.
- Refresh the soil with compost before putting anything new in the ground. Summer crops use up a lot, and Texas clay does not rebuild itself on its own.
- Keep frost cloth on hand starting in late October, since North Texas can swing from warm afternoons to a sudden freeze with little notice.
Winter (December): Rest, Plan, and Protect
Not much goes in the ground this month, but it is not a season to ignore either.
- Protect any cold-hardy crops still producing, like kale and collards, with row cover on the coldest nights.
- Order seed catalogs and start planning next year's garden layout.
- Use this slower stretch to test your soil if you have not already, so you are working with real information instead of guessing come spring.
Quick-Win Checklist for Hot Climate Success
- Mulch year-round, not just in summer. It moderates soil temperature in every season, not only the hottest months.
- Water deeply and infrequently rather than shallow and often, which builds stronger, more heat-resistant roots.
- Choose heat-tolerant varieties when shopping for transplants, especially for tomatoes and peppers.
- Plan fall crops in July and August, even though it still feels like summer. Waiting until it "feels like fall" usually means planting too late.
- Keep both shade cloth and frost cloth on hand. North Texas asks you to manage both extremes, often within the same season.
Recap
North Texas gardening works best when you plant with the season instead of fighting it. Late winter is for setup, spring is for the big push, early summer is your last good planting window before the heat takes over, peak summer is about keeping things alive, and fall quietly becomes the most productive stretch of the whole year. Once you get a feel for this rhythm, the guesswork mostly disappears.