406 - Cool vs Warm Season Crops: why some crops thrive at different times and why it matters

The Beginner's Garden with Jill McSheehy

Jill McSheehy

Gardening, Garden, How To, Education, Organicgardening, Home & Garden, Leisure, Homegardening, Beginninggardener, Vegetablegardening

4.4 • 734 Ratings

🗓️ 14 February 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Welcome to our first Friday bonus episode of the season! As you gear up for gardening this year, we're diving into a topic that has been the biggest game-changer for my garden’s productivity: understanding the differences between cool-season and warm-season crops.

We’ll explore:
🌱 Why some crops thrive in cool weather while others prefer heat
🌡️ The science behind plant temperature preferences and how enzymes react to different conditions
🌾 How temperature affects seed germination, growth, and fruit production
❄️ Heat- and cold-adaptive strategies plants use to survive extreme temperatures

Plus, I’ll share real-life examples from my own garden that have helped me make better planting decisions—and how you can apply them to maximize your harvest.

Show Notes:

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Want to take your garden planning to the next level? Join my free live workshop next week, where you'll learn:
✅ The most common planting mistakes and how to avoid them
✅ Two surprising climate factors that can transform your success
✅ Easy succession planting techniques to extend your harvest
✅ My newest time-saving strategy for stress-free garden planning

Register now at journeywithjill.net/masterclass for a chance to win prizes from GreenStalk Gardens, Epic Gardening, and more!

Let’s grow together! 🌿

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https://shop.journeywithjill.net/

Vegetable Gardening for Beginners Book: https://amzn.to/3TZeJux

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Well, hey there and welcome back to the Beginners Garden podcast and welcome to the first of our Friday bonus episodes that we do every year about this time.
0:10.3	This is to try to help equip you even better as you start planning your garden because we're all in garden planning mode right now.
0:18.0	Today we're going to be talking about something that I think is really interesting
0:22.1	and I think that you will think so too. But first, please hang in there with my voice. I am getting
0:29.2	over an illness and I've got a lot to share with you and I really hope that it holds out today.
0:34.8	But this is just too good. Without a doubt, the biggest key to my
0:39.9	increased productivity in my garden has been understanding the differences between cool season
0:45.6	crops and warm season crops, and to a lesser degree, more cold, hardy crops, and especially
0:52.3	heat-tolerant crops. and then adjusting when I plant each of
0:56.7	these accordingly. My yearly cadence of growing salad greens in the spring, tomatoes and cucumbers
1:03.9	in the summer, broccoli and cabbage in the fall, just to name of very few examples, is on autopilot
1:10.5	these days after years of experience and
1:14.0	observation. But even as I dialed in the what and then the when, I couldn't help but want to know the
1:21.8	why. Why do my salad greens love the spring in the fall, but they go bitter in the summer. Why do tomatoes
1:29.2	fruit early in the summer but they pause production when temperatures soar in the mid-90s
1:34.1	or above? Why can arugula and spinach survive all winter in my zone 8-A climate in a normal
1:41.0	winter but an early cold snap in the fall could kill them. Beyond sheer curiosity,
1:47.8	I realized I would become a better gardener if I knew the why. Knowing the why could help me make
1:54.9	quick decisions like shading my lettuce in May if a heat wave arrives, or covering my spinach in November in the event of a cold
2:02.6	snap. And these are just two of endless examples of knowing how the Y will help us grow more
2:10.1	productive gardens. And knowing the why is what I want to share with you today, and I think you
2:16.1	are going to love it.
	...

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