Tools

Garden calculators and tools

Quick answers to the garden questions that come down to arithmetic or a few careful looks. Each tool links to the guide that explains the reasoning behind it.

White fabric over low garden hoops with the edges secured to the groundLookup

Frost dates by ZIP code

Your last spring and first fall frost, with the odds, from NOAA records for the nearest weather stations.

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Young seedlings in a tray beneath an overhead grow lightCalculator

Seed starting calculator

Enter your last frost date to see when to start each vegetable indoors and when to plant it out.

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Leafy autumn vegetables with fallen leaves along the garden pathCalculator

Fall planting calculator

Count back from your first fall frost to the last day to sow or transplant for a harvest.

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Leafy vegetables and supported tomato plants in a cedar raised bedCalculator

Raised bed soil calculator

How many cubic yards or bags of soil fill your beds, split into compost and topsoil.

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Bark mulch in a wide flat ring with a bare gap around a young tree's trunkCalculator

Mulch calculator

How many cubic yards or bags of mulch a bed or tree ring needs, at the right depth.

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A potted pothos by a window with green foliage and one yellow lower leafDiagnosis

Plant Doctor

Pick the symptom you see and follow a few checks to a practical care plan.

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