Gardening in New York
New York · Northeast Atlantic Coast & Piedmont · hardiness zone 7a
Now
20°C · Clear
Today
25° / 17°
Soil 6 cm
24°C
First frost
~57 days (Nov 10)
Peak photosynthesis and peak water loss. Beds dry fast and transplants sulk.
- Green lacewingbest now — Adults fly at dusk and through the night; the larvae hunt around the clock and do the real work.
- Ground beetlebest now — Running the soil surface after dark, taking slugs, cutworms and larvae. One of the best predators a garden has.
In the garden now · September
Who else is working the garden
The insects and soil life out near New York, New York in September. Most of them are on your side — learn the few that aren't before you reach for anything.
PollinatorMay–OctMonarch butterfly
Danaus plexippus
Orange with heavy black veins and a white-spotted black border. The caterpillar is banded yellow, white and black.
What it does in the garden →Photo: Christine Young · CC BY 4.0
PollinatorMay–SepRuby-throated hummingbird
Archilochus colubris
Tiny, iridescent green above; the male has a black-looking throat that flares ruby in the right light.
Writing your field guide — reading the forecast, the moon and the map…
Overhead · New York, New York
The sky over the garden
The two clocks nothing on the ground can argue with: the length of the day, and the phase of the moon.
The sun
12h 29m of light
Sunrise
06:36
Solar noon
12:51
Sunset
19:05
A month from now the day will be 1h 20m shorter. Enough light for steady growth.
Right now · New York, New York
Forces at work
Nothing here is a guess. Each of these is read from this week's forecast and this location's climate record, and each one is pushing the season one way or the other.
- Quiet right now
Frost
213 frost-free days
Typically Apr 11 to Nov 10 here. Coldest night in the next week: 12.4 °C.
The hard edge of the growing season. Ice inside a leaf ruptures its cells — one night ends a tomato and sweetens a parsnip.
- Working for you
Soil warmth
24.5 °C
Warm enough for beans, corn, squash, cucumber and transplanted tomato and pepper. Roots run hard at this temperature.
Seeds read soil temperature, not the calendar. Six centimetres down is where the decision gets made.
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