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- Start indoors
- Sow outdoors
- Plant out
- Plant
- Fall crop
- Today
Historical frost averages plus general extension guidance, not a forecast. Adjust for your weather, soil temperature and varieties.
Seed-starting kit
- Seedling heat mats speed up peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.
- LED grow lights stop seedlings stretching on a windowsill.
- Click & Grow indoor gardens for herbs and greens all year.
- True Leaf Market vegetable seeds · Park Seed
Affiliate links: we may earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. We don't take payment for placement.
Crop guides
Each guide gives the dates for one crop at your ZIP, plus soil temperature, hardening-off and fall-planting notes.
- Tomatoes
- Potatoes
- Garlic
- Pumpkins
- Strawberries
- Carrots
- Onions
- Sunflowers
- Cucumbers
- Asparagus
- Sweet Corn
- Sweet Potatoes
- Watermelon
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Green Beans
- Lettuce
- Peas
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Radishes
- Zucchini
- Peppers
- Spinach
- Kale
- Winter Squash
- Cauliflower
- Tulips
- Wildflower Seeds
- Basil
How the calendar works
Every crop has planting windows set in weeks before or after your last spring frost, or before your first fall frost. We built these from university extension planting guides (sources below), then apply them to the 32°F frost dates for your ZIP. Cool-season crops like peas and spinach go in before the last frost; warm-season crops like tomatoes, squash and beans wait until after it.
Windows show the next time each one comes around, so in fall you'll see garlic and fall greens first and next spring's seed-starting dates after them. A red line on each bar marks today.
Questions
When should I start seeds indoors?
Count back from your last spring frost. Most tomatoes need 6–8 weeks indoors, peppers and eggplant 8–10, onions 10–12, and cabbage-family crops 4–6. Pick your crops above and the calendar does the counting for your ZIP.
What can I plant right now?
Tick “Only the next 30 days” and the calendar shows just the windows that are open now or about to open for the crops you picked.
Why do the dates change with the risk level?
All the windows are counted from your frost dates. A 10% risk gives a later spring frost date, so planting dates move later and you're less likely to lose plants to a late cold snap. A 50% date is earlier, with more risk.
Sources
- Vegetable Planting Calendar for Central Maryland (2026), University of Maryland Extension
- Vegetables for Spring and Fall Planting; Vegetables for Summer Planting, University of Maryland Extension Master Gardeners
- Suggested Vegetable Planting Dates for Utah, Utah State University Extension
- Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs, NC State Extension
- Extension Gardener Handbook, Ch. 16: Vegetable Gardening, NC State Extension
- Extension Gardener Handbook, Ch. 13: Propagation, NC State Extension
- Vegetable Planting Guide (CMG GardenNotes #720), Colorado State University Extension
- Soil temperature conditions for vegetable seed germination, Oregon State University Extension
- Can I start my seeds indoors yet?, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
- When should I sow my cabbage seeds indoors?, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach
- Growing Garlic: Fall Planting, Penn State Extension
- Growing Strawberries, Penn State Extension
- Strawberry production (Lantz, 2010), University of Maryland Extension
- Plant Bulbs Now for Spring Color, University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension
- Plant spring-blooming bulbs in fall, Oregon State University Extension
- Growing wildflowers in Central Oregon, Oregon State University Extension
- Wildflowers in Colorado (Fact Sheet 7.233), Colorado State University Extension