Think in two systems sharing one yard: early cool work (onions, bed prep) and a long warm runway (corn, tomatoes, peppers, basil, zucchini) that lives or dies on irrigation. If you plant everything the first sunny Saturday and then ghost the hose in July, half the catalog will file a complaint.
The short checklist
- January-February: Order seed. Start peppers indoors late winter. Fix drip parts before you need them at 100F.
- March-early April: Onions in as soon as soil works. Amend beds. Resist warm-crop heroics.
- Late April-May: Main transplant month for tomatoes, peppers, basil (mild nights), first corn if soil is warm, zucchini when soil hits about 60F.
- June: Last corn successions. Heat ramps. Mulch. Set irrigation like you mean it.
- July-August: Harvest relentlessly. Never ghost irrigation. Pinch basil. Pick zucchini daily.
- September-October: Finish harvests, cure onions, strip tender crops before hard frost. Basil dies first -- act accordingly.
- November-December: Clear beds, note what failed, store onions cool and dry, plan next year's day-length and block sizes.
Winter
Seed orders, pepper starts, tool repair. Do not dig porridge mud for sport.
Early spring
Onions and bed prep. Soil temperature still gates corn and cucurbits.
Late spring
Warm crew out: tomatoes, peppers, basil, corn, zucchini. Harden off. Stake day one.
Summer
Irrigation is the job. Harvest corn at milk, zucchini young, tomatoes steadily, chiles often.
Fall
Frost watch. Cure onions. Rescue peppers and tomatoes. Compost disease-free debris.
Shoulder truth
Basin rain will not carry July. Calendar bravado without drip is theater.
Calendar crimes
- Short-day onions at this latitude, then blaming "Kennewick soil."
- One corn strip of six stalks and a pollination mystery novel.
- Warm crops into cold April mud because the weekend was pretty.
- Zero irrigation plan for July -- then a TED talk about blossom-end rot.
- Never writing plant-out dates, then cursing varieties forever.
Lab note: Phone reminders for "check drip before heat wave" are not uncool. They are how harvests happen.
Use this as a sequencing tool for the Basin Grow catalog. Crop pages go deeper. Cold hollows shift tender plant-outs later; warm benches and raised beds move earlier -- only with protection you actually install. Soil temperature and irrigation capacity outrank average frost stickers.
Field notes
- Two production systems: early alliums/bed prep, then a heat-forward fruiting set that assumes irrigation supplies summer water.
- Succession corn every 10-14 days is yield insurance; one sowing is a weekend, not a season.
- Onion day-length is fixed at purchase -- culture cannot retrofit short-day genetics.
- Protective culture moves dates only if deployed; row cover in a garage helps nobody.
- Notes beat memory. Failed plant-out dates are free data for alkaline, windy, low-rain reality.
January
Inventory seed. Order long-day onions and sweet corn. Sketch rotations (move nightshades). Start peppers indoors late month if using 8-10 week schedules. Repair drip timers and emitters.
February
Pepper and early tomato indoor sow under real lights. Tool sharpening. Bed planning on paper. Avoid working saturated soil into bricks.
March
Onion sets/plants as soil works. Finish tomato sowings for late-April/May plant-out. Amend beds with compost. Start basil indoors late month or early April.
April
Average last-frost window mid-month -- verify on site. First corn if soil ~60F. Harden warm starts. Hold basil outdoors until nights are mild. Late month: begin tomato/pepper transplant on warm soil.
May
Main plant-out: tomatoes, peppers, jalapenos, zucchini, basil. Corn successions start/continue. Stake/cage at planting. Mulch as soil warms. Set irrigation before June heat.
June
Last useful corn sowings mid-month for many yards. Side-dress corn N at knee-high. Train tomatoes. Pinch basil. Deep water as ET rises. Scout aphids and squash bug eggs.
July
Peak water management. Silk-season corn vigilance. Daily zucchini checks. Harvest tomatoes/chiles as ready. Containers may need daily attention. Wind + heat = lodging and mite pressure.
August
Peak harvest chaos. Keep fruiting crops picked. Maintain even moisture to limit cracking and BER. Cure early onion crops as tops fall. Basil pinching still pays.
September
Watch overnight lows. Continue harvest. Finish onion cure and store. Reduce experiments; prioritize quality fruit. Note which beds baked or stayed wet.
October
First hard frosts often arrive. Strip tomatoes, peppers, basil ahead of freezes. Clear spent cucurbits. Compost disease-free debris. Drain and store irrigation parts if freezing nights settle in.
November
Beds cleared and mulched or covered. Review irrigation logs and plant-out dates. Onion storage check (pull soft bulbs). Minimal outdoor heroics.
December
Seed catalogs with climate honesty. Confirm long-day onion labels before cart addiction. Mock next year's overambitious list -- then edit for drip capacity and block geometry.
Priority sequencing (this catalog)
| Window | Priority crops | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Early cool / prep | Onions, bed amendment | Workable soil; long-day types only |
| Warm establish | Tomatoes, peppers, jalapenos, basil, corn, zucchini | Soil warm + nights cooperative; irrigate from day one |
| Midsummer manage | All fruiting + corn silk + zucchini harvest | Water continuity = quality; succession corn still finishing |
| Fall finish | Onion cure, tender-crop rescue | Frost ends basil first; strip quality fruit |
| Crop | Start in | Out / sow | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onions | Optional Jan-Feb | Mar-early Apr | Jul-Sep |
| Corn | Direct | Late Apr-mid Jun | Jul-Sep |
| Tomatoes | 6-8 wks | Late Apr-mid May | Jul-Oct |
| Peppers / jalapenos | 8-10 wks | Late Apr-mid May | Jul-Oct |
| Basil | 4-6 wks | Mild nights (often May) | Jun-frost |
| Zucchini | Optional 2-3 wks | Late Apr-Jun | Jun-Oct |
Unit close
If your calendar worships the average frost date and ignores soil temperature and irrigation capacity, you are dating a statistic -- not running a Kennewick garden. Early onions on workable ground; heat crops on warm soil with drip that actually runs.