Welcome to the zone with no winter. Zone 11 doesn’t do frost, doesn’t do dormancy, and doesn’t do “off-season” — it does wet season and dry season, and your job is to plant with the rain instead of against it. If you’ve ever wanted to grow mangoes, bananas, and pineapples in your backyard while your northern friends are shoveling snow, congratulations: you live in the gardeners’ promised land. The price of admission is humidity, hurricanes, and learning that “cool-season crop” is a relative term.

USDA Zone 11 Overview

• Average minimum temps: 40°F to 50°F
• Frost-free season: 365 days — effectively frost-free every year; freezes are essentially unheard of
• Average last frost: None on record in a typical year
• Average first frost: None on record in a typical year
• Where you’ll find Zone 11: Most of Hawaii (low elevations), Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Florida Keys — plus a few tiny tropical microclimate pockets. That’s it; this is the smallest USDA zone by land area in the U.S. In South Florida and the Keys, the year divides into a hot, wet summer (May–October, overlapping hurricane season) and a warm, dry “winter” (November–April) — which is your prime vegetable season. In Hawaii, patterns vary by island and side: generally wetter November–April, drier May–October. Puerto Rico runs wet May–November, drier December–April. Learn your local rain rhythm — it matters more here than any thermometer.

> Reality check: Frost is a myth at this latitude — but elevation, wind, and microclimates still shuffle planting dates around, so don’t treat this guide as gospel either. Treat every date in this guide as a range, not a promise, and check your local extension service (in Hawaii, UH CTAHR Extension) for planting guidance tuned to your island and elevation.

No frost dates to track, but plenty else to learn: your local extension service (UF/IFAS in Florida, CTAHR in Hawaii) publishes variety recommendations bred for tropical conditions — use them, because mainland seed packets lie to you about heat tolerance.

🌨 JANUARY

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Prime season! Direct sow tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes, beans, cucumbers, and squash. In Zone 11’s dry “winter,” these all thrive.
• Transplant: Set out broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, and collard seedlings — they’ll harvest through March before heat arrives.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Citrus season peaks — harvest oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, limes. Order tropical fruit trees for spring planting.
• Transplant: Strawberries (in South Florida, planted in fall) are producing — pick every 2–3 days.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, and sunflowers — they’ll bloom before summer heat.
• Transplant: Set out pentas, salvias, and porterweed for pollinators.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Excellent planting month for fruit trees — mango, avocado, citrus, lychee, starfruit, guava. Warm soil + mild air = fast root establishment. In the Keys, build raised beds with imported soil first — the native ground is limestone rock with a grudge. Prune mango and avocado only to remove dead wood; major pruning waits until after harvest. Mulch new plantings heavily (keep mulch off trunks).

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Aphids on tender new growth — water blast, insecticidal soap, neem, ladybugs. Whiteflies in warm microclimates — yellow sticky traps, neem, reflective mulch. In Florida, watch citrus for Asian citrus psyllids year-round — horticultural oil on new flush; citrus greening (HLB) is endemic, so buy certified disease-free trees and scout relentlessly.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• This is your main vegetable season — plant ambitiously.
• Mulch everything 3–4 inches; even dry-season sun is intense.
• Set up drip irrigation; water deeply in the morning.
• Start a compost pile with yard trimmings — it breaks down fast in the warmth.
• In Hawaii: this is the wet season — ensure drainage; raised beds prevent root rot.
• Harvest citrus at peak; share the surplus before it drops.

❄️ FEBRUARY

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Continue direct sowing: beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, melons, lettuce, carrots. Start sweet potato slips in water.
• Transplant: Keep setting out brassicas and lettuce seedlings for succession harvests.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Mango trees bloom — do not prune, do not fertilize; let the bloom happen. In humid areas, watch for powdery mildew and anthracnose on panicles — copper or sulfur at first sign.
• Transplant: Plant bananas (pups), papayas, and pineapples now — they’ll establish before the wet season.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow heat-tolerant annuals: vinca, portulaca, gomphrena, celosia.
• Transplant: Hibiscus and bougainvillea go in now for summer color.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Finish planting fruit trees before the heat builds. Fertilize citrus as spring growth pushes. Avocados flowering — consistent water, no excess nitrogen (it causes fruit drop). In Puerto Rico and Hawaii, coffee and cacao can be planted now in partial shade.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Spider mites appear in dry spells — hose leaf undersides weekly, neem oil, predatory mites. Thrips rasp flowers and young fruit — spinosad or insecticidal soap; reflective mulch deters them. Fruit flies begin stirring — set out spinosad bait traps early, before populations explode.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Succession-sow beans, lettuce, and radishes every two weeks.
• Side-dress heavy feeders (corn, tomatoes) with compost.
• Install trellises for cucumbers, beans, and luffa before they need them.
• In the Keys: rinse salt spray off foliage after windy days — salt burn is real.
• Begin planning wet-season strategy: which beds get cover crops, drainage improvements, or a rest.
• Enjoy the dry-season weather — it’s the best gardening of the year.

🌱 MARCH

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow okra, southern peas, yardlong beans, Malabar spinach, and luffa — the heat-tolerant crew that will carry summer. Last sowing of cucumbers and squash.
• Transplant: Final brassica and lettuce transplants early March; after this, cool crops are done until fall.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Loquats ripen — harvest fully golden. Jaboticaba may fruit in South Florida.
• Transplant: Plant dragon fruit cuttings, passionfruit vines, and pineapples — heat-lovers that establish fast now.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow the last of the spring annuals; transition beds to heat-proof color.
• Transplant: Gingers, heliconias, and bird of paradise for tropical drama.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Mangoes setting fruit — water consistently; mulch well. Don’t fertilize fruiting mangoes or avocados. Prune spring-flowering shrubs after bloom. New citrus needs deep watering twice weekly through establishment.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Hornworms on tomatoes and peppers — handpick (blacklight night hunts), spare the ones with white parasitic wasp cocoons. Whiteflies build on new growth — neem rotation, sticky traps. In Hawaii, watch for the coffee berry borer if growing coffee — sanitation (pick all ripe/overripe berries) is the main control.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Harvest cool-season crops before they bolt — the window is closing.
• Refresh mulch; the wet season (Florida) or dry heat (Hawaii/Keys) is coming.
• Begin transitioning beds: pull spent lettuce and brassicas, plant heat-lovers.
• Check drainage — in Florida’s coming wet season, beds must shed water; in Hawaii’s dry season, mulch must hold it.
• Order summer cover crop seed (sunn hemp, cowpeas).
• Fertilize palms with palm-specific fertilizer (they’re potassium hogs; yellowing fronds mean they’re hungry).

🌦 APRIL

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow sweet potatoes, okra, yardlong beans, bitter melon, and winged beans. Plant ginger and turmeric rhizomes.
• Transplant: Set out tropical spinaches (Malabar, Okinawan, longevity) — greens that thrive where lettuce surrenders.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Early mangoes begin ripening in South Florida late April — the season everyone waits for.
• Transplant: Bananas, papayas, and pineapples still fine to plant. Thin excess fruitlets on stone fruit (where grown).

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow portulaca, vinca, and angelonia — the summer color workhorses.
• Transplant: Plumeria cuttings root easily now — let cut ends callus a week before planting.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Citrus: watch for leafminer on new flush (horticultural oil; cosmetic on mature trees). Avocados sizing — steady water, no feast-or-famine irrigation (it causes splitting and drop). In hurricane zones, assess trees for weak limbs before storm season — strategic pruning now beats emergency chainsaw later.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Leaf-footed bugs and stink bugs pierce tomatoes, peaches, and citrus — handpick at dawn into soapy water; kaolin clay deters. Mealybugs colonize stressed plants — horticultural oil, plus encourage ladybugs and lacewings. Fungal pressure rises with humidity — copper fungicide rotation, morning watering, spacing for airflow.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Deploy shade cloth (30–50%) over remaining tomatoes and peppers — fruit set stops when nights stay above ~75°F.
• Water deeply, early morning; check drip lines as demand rises.
• Harvest spring crops aggressively — everything declines faster now.
• Begin hurricane prep inventory: ties, tarps, stakes, a plan for container plants.
• Compost spent cool-season crops.
• In the Keys: top-dress raised beds with compost — thin soils deplete fast.

🌷 MAY

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: The wet season (Florida/Keys) begins — plant taro, cassava, ginger, turmeric, and sweet potatoes, all of which love heat and rain. Direct sow okra and southern peas (last round).
• Transplant: Tropical spinaches and sweet potato slips. Minimal other transplanting — heat and daily downpours are hard on newcomers.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Mango season builds — early varieties ripening; do not pick early, tree-ripened is the entire point. Lychees begin in South Florida.
• Transplant: Hold off on new fruit trees until fall — establishment in the wet season means fighting fungus from day one.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Deadhead heat-lovers; they’ll bloom through the rains.
• Transplant: Minimal — focus on maintaining what’s established.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Wet-season fungal pressure arrives — improve airflow with selective thinning (not heavy pruning). Palms: remove only fully brown fronds. Bananas: cut spent pseudostems after fruiting, keep 3–4 pups per mat. Don’t fertilize during the heaviest rains — nutrients just wash away; wait for drier spells.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Fruit flies (Caribbean fruit fly in Florida, oriental fruit fly in Hawaii) target ripening mangoes, guavas, and papayas — harvest promptly, destroy fallen fruit (bag and trash, don’t compost), hang spinosad bait traps. Anthracnose and other fungal diseases surge — copper fungicide, strict sanitation, airflow. Slugs and snails love the wet — iron phosphate bait.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Hurricane season starts June 1 — prep now: secure trellises, trim weak limbs, plan container-plant triage.
• Harvest daily — in heat and humidity, produce goes from ripe to ruined overnight.
• Ensure drainage — raised beds, no saucers under pots, clear gutters and swales.
• Mulch to 4 inches to prevent soil splash (which spreads fungal spores).
• Water less — the sky is handling it; overwatering plus rain equals root rot.
• In Hawaii’s dry season areas: opposite problem — deep mulch and drip irrigation are essential.

☀️ JUNE

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Sweet potatoes, taro, cassava, ginger — the tropical root crew. Cover crops (sunn hemp) in resting beds fix nitrogen through the wet season.
• Transplant: Essentially none. Survival month.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Peak mango season in South Florida — harvest daily. Lychees and longans ripen. In Hawaii, mountain apples and early avocados.
• Transplant: None — wait for fall.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Maintain and deadhead; the tropicals (hibiscus, plumeria, gingers) are in their glory.
• Transplant: None.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Deep-rooted trees handle the wet season fine; watch young trees for waterlogging — if leaves yellow and wilt despite wet soil, roots are drowning; improve drainage. Don’t prune in the wettest weeks — open wounds invite fungal infection. Stake young trees before storms, not during them.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Mealybugs, scale, and sooty mold (which grows on their honeydew) peak in the humid heat — horticultural oil smothers all three; follow up with neem. Whiteflies cloud in the understory — sticky traps, soap, neem. In Florida, iguanas feast on flowers and young fruit — netting and fencing; they’re protected-adjacent in weird legal ways, so check local rules before getting creative.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Harvest mangoes, lychees, and daily vegetables before they spoil — share the abundance; mango diplomacy builds strong neighborhoods.
• Keep harvesting fallen fruit off the ground — fruit-fly sanitation is non-negotiable.
• Maintain mulch; replenish where rain has washed it thin.
• Check tie-downs and stakes before every tropical wave.
• Solarize or cover-crop any empty beds (in drier areas; in the wettest zones, cover crops are the better call).
• Stay hydrated and work early — the garden will still be there at 7 a.m., and so should you.

🌞 JULY

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Indoors or in deep shade: start fall tomato and pepper seeds — the dry season garden begins here. Outdoors: only the tropical roots (sweet potato, taro, cassava).
• Transplant: None outdoors — it’s the hottest, wettest month; transplants just melt.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Mango season continues; late varieties ripen. Avocados (summer varieties) in South Florida and Hawaii.
• Transplant: None.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Indoors: start fall marigolds and zinnias.
• Transplant: None outdoors.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

No pruning except storm damage — every cut is a fungal doorway right now. Palms: leave them alone entirely. Check young trees after storms; restake leaning ones promptly before roots set crooked. Bananas fruiting through the wet season — prop heavy bunches so wind doesn’t snap them.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Fungal diseases at annual peak — anthracnose on mangoes, black spot on roses, blights on anything stressed. Copper fungicide rotation, ruthless sanitation (remove infected leaves; don’t compost them), maximum airflow. Giant lubber grasshoppers (Florida) reach full size — handpick; they’re too big for most predators and have earned their confidence. Nematodes trouble roots in sandy soils — solarize empty beds, plant French marigolds as a biofumigant cover.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Tend fall seedlings in shade — strong light, airflow, no legginess.
• Maintain mulch and drainage; clear debris from swales and drains before storms.
• Hurricane prep at full readiness — this through September is peak season.
• Harvest tropical fruits daily; process or share the surplus (dehydrate, freeze, ferment — mango hot sauce is a lifestyle).
• Keep tools clean and dry — humidity rusts everything; a little oil goes a long way.
• Rest in the air conditioning and plan the dry-season garden — it’s going to be glorious.

🌻 AUGUST

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Continue fall seedlings indoors: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, plus brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale) late in the month. The dry-season garden is being born.
• Transplant: Late August in the driest microclimates: harden off and set out the earliest fall tomatoes with shade cloth. Most gardeners wait for September.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Order strawberry crowns, garlic, and onions for fall planting. Late mangoes finish; early citrus (satsumas) begins coloring.
• Transplant: Passionfruit and dragon fruit cuttings root enthusiastically in the heat — one of the few plantings that likes August.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Indoors: cool-season annuals (sweet peas, larkspur, snapdragons) for fall transplanting.
• Transplant: None outdoors yet — wait for the heat to break.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Avocado harvest rolls on (plant multiple varieties for a 6+ month season). Lightly fertilize citrus between rains. Keep staking young trees through storm season. Don’t plant new trees yet — six more weeks.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Fall armyworms shred young seedlings — Bt or spinosad at first ragged chewing, applied in the evening. Whiteflies await every new transplant — have neem, sticky traps, and reflective mulch ready. Keep copper fungicide on rotation; the wet season isn’t done with you.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Prepare beds for the dry season: pull spent wet-season crops, add 2–3 inches of compost, re-mulch.
• Hurricane peak — keep everything secured, harvest ahead of storms, know your recovery plan.
• Harden off fall seedlings gradually — two weeks of increasing sun.
• Refresh irrigation systems; the dry season will demand consistent water.
• In the Keys: this is the toughest month — heat, humidity, salt, storms. Low expectations, high mulch.
• Anticipate: September/October planting is the main event, and you’re almost there.

🍂 SEPTEMBER

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: The gates open! Direct sow tomatoes (from seed is fine now), beans, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, carrots, beets, radishes — the full dry-season lineup.
• Transplant: Set out fall tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant started in July/August — with shade cloth for the first two weeks. Brassica seedlings go out late September.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Order garlic, shallots, and onion sets for October/November planting.
• Transplant: Strawberries go in late September in South Florida — the famous winter berry season starts here.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow sweet peas, larkspur, poppies, calendula, and nasturtiums.
• Transplant: Pansies are pointless here (they melt); instead plant pentas, salvias, and torenia for fall color.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Prime tree-planting season opens — mango, avocado, citrus, lychee, longan, starfruit, guava, jackfruit. Container-grown trees planted now get the entire dry season to establish before next summer’s deluge. Fertilize citrus lightly; hold heavy feeding until the rains fully retreat.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Cabbage loopers and diamondback moths hit new brassicas — weekly Bt until established. Whiteflies persist — keep the full defense stack (traps, neem, reflective mulch). As rains taper, spider mites may appear — hose undersides weekly.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Hurricane season still active — stay prepped through November, harvest ahead of storms.
• Mulch every new transplant immediately — September sun is still fierce.
• Install row cover over brassicas from day one.
• Side-dress fall crops with compost 3–4 weeks after transplanting.
• Ease into the dry-season watering rhythm: deep, morning, consistent.
• Journal the fall plantings — varieties and dates become next year’s cheat sheet.

🎃 OCTOBER

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow garlic (2 inches deep, pointy end up), lettuce, spinach, carrots, radishes, peas, and fava beans. Succession-sow lettuce every two weeks all season.
• Transplant: Strawberry crowns (South Florida’s main window), onion transplants, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Citrus season begins — satsumas and early tangerines first. Taste before stripping the tree; citrus doesn’t ripen off the tree.
• Transplant: Blueberries won’t work here (not enough chill — plant misty southern highbush only as an experiment, or better yet, plant jaboticaba and Barbados cherry instead). Tropical fruit trees: keep planting — this is the window.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow wildflowers and sweet peas.
• Transplant: Full dry-season color: pentas, salvias, torenia, porterweed — the pollinator buffet.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

The best tree-planting month of the year — warm soil, mild air, dry season ahead. Water new plantings deeply twice weekly until established. Prune dead wood from storm season. In Hawaii, this is also excellent planting weather as the wet season begins (free irrigation!).

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Aphids arrive on cool-season transplants — water, soap, neem, ladybugs. Slugs and snails reactivate as nights cool and moisture lingers — iron phosphate bait. Fruit flies still active on late tropical fruits — keep traps out until harvests end.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Plant garlic, onions, and strawberries — the set-and-forget fall crops.
• Mulch strawberries with pine straw (Florida) or clean straw.
• Sow cover crops (sunn hemp, cowpeas) in any bed resting through the dry season.
• Service irrigation — the dry season runs on it.
• Harvest fall tomatoes as they ripen — October tomatoes in Zone 11 are absurdly good.
• Photograph everything for the journal — the “before” shots make great “after” shots.

🍁 NOVEMBER

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow fava beans, lettuce, radishes, carrots, and peas. Keep the succession lettuce going.
• Transplant: Finish cool-season transplants early November. Garlic and onions in — keep them weeded and watered.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Citrus harvest accelerates — navels, tangerines, grapefruit, pummelos. In Hawaii, coffee cherry ripens (pick red, process promptly).
• Transplant: Continue planting tropical fruit trees — the window stays open all dry season.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Last sowing of sweet peas and cool annuals early in the month.
• Transplant: Keep the pollinator plants coming — pentas and porterweed bloom nonstop.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

No frost to prepare for — instead, enjoy planting season. Prune only dead or damaged wood. Mango and avocado trees: complete hands-off until after their spring bloom. In the Keys, this is the pleasant season — do your heavy garden projects now.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Pest pressure eases as the dry season settles — the year’s gentlest stretch. Watch for scale on citrus and ornamentals; horticultural oil handles overwintering populations (though “winter” is doing a lot of work in that sentence). Mealybugs on indoor-adjacent ornamentals — alcohol swabs for spot treatment, oil for broad.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Hurricane season officially ends November 30 — stand down the storm prep and do a post-season assessment: what survived, what needs replacing, what needs better staking.
• Compost the year’s debris — it breaks down fast in the warmth.
• Reduce irrigation frequency as growth steadies, but never let new plantings dry out.
• Harvest sweet potatoes before the “cool” nights slow them (they don’t need frost protection here — just harvest at maturity).
• Plan holiday harvests: citrus, fresh herbs, tropical fruits, and cut flowers are elite gifts.
• Soil test if you haven’t — dry-season amendments integrate beautifully.

⛄ DECEMBER

🥬 Vegetables — Start & Transplant

• Start: Keep sowing lettuce, radishes, carrots, peas, and beans — the conveyor belt runs year-round.
• Transplant: Broccoli, kale, chard, and lettuce transplants all fine — succession planting never stops here.

🍓 Fruits — Start & Transplant

• Start: Peak citrus — navels, grapefruit, tangerines, Meyer lemons, kumquats, limes. Avocado varieties continue. In Puerto Rico and Hawaii, this is prime harvest season across the board.
• Transplant: Keep planting tropical fruit trees — bare-root isn’t a thing here; container-grown trees plant any month, and December’s mild weather is ideal.

🌼 Flowers — Start & Transplant

• Start: Direct sow more sweet peas and cool annuals — or just enjoy what’s blooming.
• Transplant: Refresh tired annual beds with new pentas and salvias.

🌳 Trees & Shrubs

Plant, plant, plant — December might be the finest planting month in Zone 11: mild, dry (Florida/Keys), and months of perfect growing weather ahead. Prune hibiscus lightly to shape after flowering flushes. In Hawaii’s wet season, hold off on heavy pruning — fungal pressure is high.

🐛 Pests + Natural Remedies

Lowest pest pressure of the year in the dry season — enjoy it. Horticultural oil on citrus and ornamentals for scale and mite eggs. Sanitation: clear fallen fruit and leaves to break disease cycles before the wet season returns.

🛠 Garden To-Do List

• Harvest cool-season crops at their peak — December vegetables in Zone 11 are the envy of the gardening internet.
• Inventory seeds; order new varieties; try something tropical and weird (winged beans! luffa! pigeon peas!) — this zone rewards experimentation.
• Clean and oil tools — humidity never sleeps, even in the dry season.
• Top-dress beds with compost — the soil food web works year-round here, so feed it year-round.
• Share the harvest — December citrus and papaya boxes make legendary gifts.
• Rest where you can. January starts the cycle again, and in Zone 11, the garden never truly sleeps — it just changes costumes.

🌟 Zone 11 Success Strategies

✔ Fall–spring is prime vegetable season.
✔ Summer is for tropical crops only.
✔ Drainage is critical in rainy climates.
✔ Mulch heavily year-round.
✔ Fertilize lightly but frequently.
✔ Pest monitoring must be weekly.
✔ Improve airflow to combat fungal diseases.
✔ Choose heat- and disease-resistant varieties.