Four free gardening games I built to help you learn which plants grow when, what they look like, and how to care for them — without it feeling like homework. All four games are based on real plants from my garden in Apex, NC (Zone 7b). Play them in any order, use hints if you get stuck, and see how much you know.
Read the clue and pick the right plant from four choices. Each question gets harder as your streak grows. 12 plants from my garden are in the rotation — tomatoes, blueberries, garlic, peas, muscadines, figs, radishes, mulberries, raspberries, green beans, zucchini, and sunflowers. You can get a hint after watching a short ad.
Stuck? Get a clue — you'll need to watch a short ad first.
Drag the seven plants into the correct planting order from earliest to latest in the year. This is based on real planting dates in Apex, NC (Zone 7b). Peas go in as early as January when the ground is still cold — basil has to wait until May after the last frost. Get the order right and you will know when to plant seven common vegetables and herbs.
Not sure about the order? Watch an ad for a hint.
Guess the hidden 5-letter garden word in 6 tries. Green means the letter is in the right spot. Yellow means the letter is in the word but the wrong spot. Gray means the letter is not in the word at all. Words are all gardening-related — things like BASIL, MULCH, FROST, PRUNE, BLOOM, ROOTS, SEEDS, THYME, CLOVE, and VINES. Type on your keyboard or tap the on-screen keys.
Need a clue? Watch an ad to get one letter revealed.
Flip cards to find matching plant pairs. Each plant photo or emoji is paired with a short description of that plant — like "Tomato → 60–80 days" or "Garlic → Plant in autumn". There are 8 pairs and 16 cards total. Try to finish in fewer moves. Fewer moves = better memory. The board reshuffles every new game so it stays fresh.
Memory failing? Watch an ad to flip one matched pair for free.
Every question and card in these games is based on real plants I grow in my backyard in Apex, NC. Here is a reference for all 19 — when they grow, how long they take, and where to read the full guide.
Everbearing mulberry ripens May–June in Zone 7b. No thorns, massive yields by year three. Juice stains everything purple — plant away from driveways.
Full guide →Cherry Belle radish goes from seed to harvest in just 25 days — the fastest vegetable in the garden. Sow Feb–April and again in August for fall.
Full guide →Plant in January in Zone 7b — peas love cold soil and handle frost. Eat them off the vine for best flavor. Done by June when summer heat arrives.
Full guide →Brown Turkey fig thrives against a south-facing wall in Zone 7b. Even if winter kills the top back, it regrows from the roots. Harvest late August–September.
Full guide →Heritage is the variety to grow in NC — handles summer heat better than most. Main crop arrives in September–October when nights cool back down.
Full guide →Sow direct after last frost (mid-April in Zone 7b). Bush or pole varieties both work well. Use rhizobium inoculant — it doubles yields for about $3.
Full guide →Start indoors in March, transplant after April 15th. Plant deep — bury two-thirds of the stem. Cherokee Purple and Sungold are the best varieties for NC.
Full guide →Plant in October, harvest in July — nine months from clove to bulb. Hardneck types produce edible scapes in spring. Homegrown garlic beats store-bought completely.
Full guide →Rabbiteye blueberries are the best type for NC heat. Soil pH must be 4.5–5.5. Takes 3 years to produce well but then keeps going for 20+ years.
Full guide →Marketmore is the reliable slicer for NC summers. Trellis vertically to save space and reduce disease. Check every 2–3 days — they go from perfect to too big overnight.
Full guide →Danvers Half Long is the best variety for NC clay soil — it handles imperfect ground better than slim types. Raised beds make a huge difference. Fall carrots taste sweeter.
Full guide →Basil thrives in NC summer heat. Rosemary is perennial in Zone 7b. Mint must go in containers or it takes over everything. Parsley direct-sows in early March.
Full guide →Cool-season only: February–April and September–November. Grows too hot and bolts in NC summer. Use cut-and-come-again loose-leaf types like Black Seeded Simpson.
Full guide →NC's native grape — the only one that actually thrives in our heat and humidity. Carlos and Noble are self-fertile varieties. Harvest August–September when grapes fall with a light shake.
Full guide →Start indoors in February — peppers need 10–12 weeks before transplant. Do not rush them outside; cold soil stalls them for weeks. Production peaks in August–September.
Full guide →Plant on St. Patrick's Day (March 17) in Zone 7b — that is the traditional NC date and it works. Yukon Gold and Kennebec are the best varieties. Hill up as they grow.
Full guide →Fall planting (September–October) beats spring planting in NC. Earliglow is the best-flavored variety — slow cool-weather ripening in March makes the first berries of the year taste incredible.
Full guide →Direct sow after last frost — they grow so fast there is no advantage to starting indoors. Mammoth Russian reaches 10–12 feet. Branching types like Autumn Beauty bloom for months.
Full guide →Plant one, maybe two — a single healthy plant will produce more than most families can eat. Pick at 6–8 inches before they get huge. Squash vine borers are the main NC problem.
Full guide →