People love to garden in the United States. People enjoy gardening as an activity, pastime, or hobby. Gardening can be enjoyable whether you want to grow fruits and vegetables or run a flower farm.
For outdoor enthusiasts, gardening provides opportunity to be outdoors and enjoy the fruits of hard work and persistence.
What you can plant will depend on the state you are in. Citrus fruits are prevalent in Florida and Arizona.
In much the same way, California is good for some commercial crops. In the midwest, popular crops include grains, vegetables, or livestock.
Thus, if you are interested in gardening, the following are seven states in the US that are ranked a among the best states to “grow” a possible hobby!
7 Best States to Garden in the USA
It is complicated determining if a piece of property in a state can be used for agriculture or not.
So, through numerous analytical methods, examined on a state by state basis, the following are the top states for agriculture in the US.
1. California – Fruits and Vegetables
California produces a significantly larger diversity of specialty crops then any state in the US. California also produces a lot more annual specialty crops, ie: okra, stir-fry vegetables, cilantro, or chestnuts — too many common crops to mention.
California is expanding and climate change laws have changed specialty crops. The dry periods, storms, and summertime heat will not allow farmers to let a perennial investment rot or go fallow.
While there are some annual agricultural crops that exist, perennial crops with maple trees, mint, all garden plants longer than a year, are going to leave a farmer questioning if it is worth the return.
In addition, going up in temperature, could cause stone species such as plums and dates to absorb the cold hours they need in order to bud out correctly. And California’s diversity and variability in crops suggests a large range of adaptation possibilities.
2. Iowa – Corn, Soybean, and Livestock Production
Iowa, is not shy about being a top-producing state for Maize, Eggs, and Pork, as well as second in Soybeans. Even though row crops and animal production typically covers most Iowa farmland, what is produced in Iowa is more varied than what is apparent.
To illustrate, Iowa produces more corn than the entire country of Mexico. This is due to Iowa being one of the best examples of a long warm growing season for maize.
And, Iowa has an average of 183 bushels of corn per acre, which is great considering the average in the united states is 173 (USDA).
3. Alaska – Giant Vegetables
Alaska produces the biggest cool season vegetables based on approximately 24 hour days of sunshine in the summer.
It is home to the world record for a giant cabbage, which weighed over 125 pounds. And per the Anchorage Daily News, the leaves are over 5 feet across.
This state is also home to the worlds biggest rutabaga weight over 82 pounds, and world’s heaviest carrot weighing 18 pounds.
Therefore, Alaska by far would be the best state to grow giant crops.
4. Nebraska – Great Northern Beans
So, whether you’re into white chicken chili with Great Northern Beans or good ole beef chili with pintos and kidneys, you might want to appreciate a farmer from Nebraska.
After all, Nebraska grows the country’s Great Northern Beans and is the 2nd largest producer of pintos.
And, dry edible beans or legumes include kidney, pinto, Great Northern, navy, black, and pink that are growns to maturity, harvested, dried, and chosen for seed from their pods.
Only western Nebraska, with a different environment than the east, can produce dry edible beans. But, the majority of farmers enjoy raising beans in the state for water conservation.
5. Texas – Cotton
Cotton has been a major crop in Texas for over a century. Texas has led every state in cotton production in most years since 1880, producing roughly 37.5 percent of the total United States production, as it remains today.
In short, since 1996, Texas annually produces, on average, 5.8 million 480-pound bales of cotton per year.
In addition to raw material, cotton is used in gins, oil mills, compresses and textile mills in Texas…and the cotton is shipped from Texas mostly to China, Turkey, Mexico, and other Pacific Rim countries.
6. Kentucky – Wonder Beans
No Kentucky garden would be complete without at least one of the Kentucky Wonder bean varieties.
Moreover, Guatemala is estimated to grow a large part of the Kentucky Wonder beans simply because Kentucky farmers found that they could grow this open-pollinated bean nicely from about the early to mid-1800s and created a staple in the United States.
Meanwhile, the Kentucky Blues are a cross of these Blue Lake beans along with various beans that had a pole habit and bush habit.
In addition to stringless, tender-podded Kentucky Wonder beans which are grown in Kentucky and can be eaten raw or canned or frozen.
7. Florida – Fruits
What a good climate to produce some unique and beautiful fruits in your own backyard with the subtropical climate in south Florida.
You can feel certain there were no dangerous substances in their development if you can keep these trees healthy.
Besides that, south Florida is in the hardiness zone that is limited to this area of the state, four certain plants are possible to only grow here.
Some of those fruits are bananas, cherimoya, dragon fruit, lychee, mango, mamey sapote, white sapote.
Honorable Mention
It is hard to overlook a state with the name of the garden state. So, not the first possibility that may spring to mind, but New Jersey is well warranted.
New Jersey is famous for their blueberries, peaches, tomatoes, squash, and many many other delectable fruits and vegetables.
Taking into account the size of the state compared to other states on this list, and the amount of produce they grow, they pack a lot of value for their size.
Final Thoughts
In the end, there are many good locations in the southeast for growers that want to grow plants that have low tolerances to freezing, it is still important to note, that heatwaves and weather events are less dependably and more dangerous than freezing temperatures in terms of killing plants.
Also, those commercial farmers seem to focus on California for numerous reasons for a variety of fruits and vegetables based on weather and moisture amounts.
But no matter which state you decide to choose, ensure you understand growing good enough that you are beginning properly.