The Same Date Doesn't Mean the Same Conditions
A planting calendar can tell you the date. It cannot tell you whether the soil is warm enough, heat is accumulating, frost risk is receding, or day length suits the plant.
Tomatoes transplanted into cool soil can stall as their roots struggle to establish. Spinach sown after heat and long days arrive may bolt before producing a worthwhile harvest. The calendar date may look right in both cases. The conditions are not.
Those conditions change from year to year, which is why the same variety can thrive one season and disappoint the next. The four forces reveal what the calendar leaves out.
The Four Forces of Your Growing Season
H — Heat Accumulation
How much usable warmth your plants have received.
E — Earth Temperature
Whether the soil is warm enough for seeds to germinate and roots to grow.
A — Available Frost-Free Days
How much growing time remains before frost risk returns.
T — Twilight Hours
How changing day length influences plant growth and maturity.
Together, these forces show where your growing season actually is, rather than where the calendar assumes it should be.
The Usual Numbers Don’t Describe Your Season
Gardeners are given an average last frost date, a hardiness zone, and days to maturity as though those numbers explain what can grow. They don't.
A frost date estimates one event. A hardiness zone describes winter cold and perennial survival. Days to maturity reflects performance under the conditions where a variety was trialed.
None tells you how warmth, soil temperature, daylight, and frost risk are interacting in your garden this year. The HEAT Compass™ does.
See Your Options Before You Plant
The Compass Reading compares what a specific variety needs with the four forces in your garden right now. It explains how those conditions may affect the plant and identifies the strongest planting path.
Instead of giving you a single yes-or-no answer, it compares options such as starting indoors now, sowing outside later, or planting today. Each path includes an estimated chance of success, so you can choose an option, wait, or ask the HEAT Compass™ to remind you later.
Guidance Across the Growing Season
The HEAT Compass™ continues after planting. As a variety moves from seed to plant to harvest, the questions change, and so does the guidance.
From planning and tending through harvest and bed closeout, the HEAT Compass™ keeps the complete story of each variety in one place.
Choose
Compare varieties and planting paths against the season ahead.
Tend
See what needs attention now, track ongoing care, and record the plant’s progress.
Tally
Record harvests and connect the outcome to the season that produced it.
Learn
Build your understanding of the forces and plant biology behind each decision.
Choose
Compare varieties and planting paths against the season ahead.
Tend
See what needs attention now, track ongoing care, and record the plant’s progress.
Tally
Record harvests and connect the outcome to the season that produced it.
Learn
Build your understanding of the forces and plant biology behind each decision.
Help Shape What Comes Next
Use the HEAT Compass™ with two or three varieties from your 2026 garden, then tell Taiga what was useful, what was clear, and what still needs refining. Your experience will help prepare the app for gardeners across the North.
