Plants

A heat-loving, frost-tender annual and the backbone of the summer garden — start it indoors, plant it deep, and water it evenly to dodge cracking and blossom-end rot.

A fast, cool-season annual for spring and fall — sow it shallow, keep it watered, and harvest before summer heat turns it bitter and sends it to seed.

A tender, warm-season herb that frost kills outright — wait for warm nights, pinch it often, and keep water off the leaves to fend off downy mildew.

A very tender, warm-season vine that sulks in cold soil and turns bitter under drought — give it warmth, steady water, and a trellis, and pick often.

A heat-lover that's botanically a perennial but grown as an annual — start it early indoors, plant it into warm soil, and keep moisture even or pay in blossom-end rot.

The garden's most generous vegetable — direct-sow it into genuinely warm soil, let the bees at the flowers, and check the plants daily once fruit starts coming.

A cool-season root that demands loose soil and patience at germination — always direct-sown, never transplanted, and sweeter on the far side of a fall frost.

The hardiest green in the garden — plant it for fall, let a frost or two sweeten the leaves, and keep cutting until deep winter finally calls it.