According to Bob Westerfield, the Senior Public Service Associate in Horticulture at UGA's Extension office, you can plant or harvest something from your garden almost all year. The two major planting periods, however, are spring (March to May) and fall (mid-July to September). The spring plantings are harvested in June and July, while the fall plantings are harvested from October to December. January and February are prime times for looking at seed catalogs, dreaming of warm spring days, preparing garden plots, and getting ready for a productive season. To get started,  download the University of Georgia Extension's Vegetable Garden Calendar and checklist below.

Important Note: Their monthly recommendations—especially the spring and fall planting dates—are for the typical day and month in middle Georgia. To use their calendar, consider middle Georgia as a belt across the state from Columbus through Macon to Augusta. Spring planting dates can be as much as 2 to 3 weeks earlier in extreme south Georgia, and fall planting dates also can be as much as 2 weeks later. In north Georgia, the spring planting dates are from 1 to 3 weeks later as you progress northward through the mountain counties; fall planting dates are about 2 weeks earlier. Also, note that their recommendations are based on long-term average dates of the last killing frost in the spring and first killing frost in the fall. Every year does not conform to these averages, so you should use your own judgment about advancing or delaying the time for each job, depending on weather conditions.

Download the UGA Extension

Vegetable Garden Calendar

This calendar is prepared mainly as a reminder and guide for planning your garden work throughout the year in Georgia. Other UGA Extension publications containing information about specific gardening practices are mentioned throughout this leaflet and are also available at your county Extension office.