Planting Calendar

This planting calendar builds a personal planting schedule for your garden from just two dates: your average last spring frost and your average first fall frost. It covers more than two dozen common vegetables and herbs, showing which to start indoors and when to plant them out, which to sow directly in the garden and when, and which to sow in late summer for a fall harvest. Choose a view to see everything at once, or just the indoor starts, direct sowings or fall plantings.

How to use the planting calendar

1. Enter your average last spring frost date and average first fall frost date. If you are not sure of them, the frost date tool explains where to find them.
2. Choose what to show: all spring plantings, indoor starts only, direct sowings only, or fall plantings.
3. Read the schedule. Each crop shows a date range. The earlier date suits mild springs and fast varieties; the later date suits cold springs and slower varieties.
4. Copy the dates to a calendar or notebook, and adjust each year for the weather.

Three ways crops get planted

Started indoors, then transplanted

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions from seed, parsley, basil and the cabbage family are usually started indoors weeks before they can go outside. This gives them a head start on a season that would otherwise be too short for a good harvest. The calendar shows both the indoor sowing window and the planting-out window.

Sown directly in the garden

Many crops are best sown where they will grow. Root crops such as carrots, beets and radishes dislike being transplanted, and fast crops such as beans, peas, corn and squash gain little from an indoor start. The calendar shows when to sow each outdoors.

Planted from cloves, tubers, slips or crowns

Garlic is planted from cloves in fall, potatoes from seed potatoes in spring, sweet potatoes from slips once the soil is warm, and strawberries from crowns in early spring.

The spring planting sequence

Spring planting follows a predictable order based on how much cold each crop tolerates. Counting from a last frost date of April 20 as an example:

Enter your own frost dates in the calendar above, and every date shifts to match your area.

The fall planting sequence

Fall plantings count back from the first fall frost. They are easy to forget in the middle of summer, but they produce some of the best harvests of the year, because many crops mature in cooling weather rather than summer heat.

• Tender crops such as bush beans, cucumbers and zucchini need to finish before frost, so they are sown earliest, usually in midsummer.
• The cabbage family is usually transplanted in mid to late summer, from seedlings started a few weeks earlier.
• Carrots, beets, kale and peas are sown in mid to late summer.
• Lettuce, spinach, cilantro and radishes are sown last, in late summer and early fall, because they mature quickly and tolerate cold.
• Garlic is planted around the first fall frost, a few weeks before the ground freezes, for harvest the following summer. See our guide to planting garlic in fall.

The calendar allows about two extra weeks for fall crops, because growth slows as days shorten, and extra time for tender crops so they mature before frost.

Soil temperature matters too

Frost dates tell you when frost is unlikely, but seeds also need warm enough soil to germinate. Peas, spinach and lettuce germinate in cool soil, from the 40s°F. Beans, corn and squash need warmer soil, often in the 60s°F, and seed can rot in cold, wet ground. Peppers, melons and okra prefer it warmer still.

A simple soil thermometer pushed a few inches into the bed in the morning tells you whether the soil is ready. In a cold, wet spring, wait a little past the calendar date for warm-season crops.

Succession planting

Instead of sowing all of a fast crop at once, sow small batches every two to three weeks. This spreads the harvest out so you are not overwhelmed one week and empty-handed the next. Succession planting works especially well for:

• Lettuce and salad greens, from early spring through fall, with a pause in midsummer heat.
• Radishes, from early spring through early summer and again in fall.
• Bush beans, from after the last frost until about two months before the first frost.
• Cilantro and dill, which bolt quickly in warm weather.
• Carrots and beets, sown every few weeks through spring and early summer.

When an early crop finishes, sow a later one in the same space. Spring peas can be followed by summer beans, and those by fall spinach. The harvest date calculator shows when each planting should be ready.

Adjusting the calendar for your region

Short-season regions

Where the frost-free season is short, transplants are essential for long-season crops, and the safety margin matters. Choose fast-maturing varieties, use row cover and black plastic mulch to warm soil early, and plan fall crops promptly, because fall deadlines arrive in midsummer.

Hot-summer regions

In the South and desert Southwest, summer heat rather than frost often limits the season. Cool-season crops grow best in fall, winter and early spring. Tomatoes and peppers are often planted early so they set fruit before peak heat, with a second planting in late summer for fall.

Mild coastal regions

Along the Pacific coast, cool summers and mild winters allow long plantings of greens and brassicas, while heat-loving crops benefit from the sunniest, most sheltered spot.

Your state Cooperative Extension service publishes planting calendars tuned to your region, which are an excellent companion to this tool.

Turning the calendar into a plan

1. List what you want to grow, using the plant finder to check what suits your conditions.
2. Enter your frost dates and note the dates for each crop.
3. Work out quantities with the plant spacing calculator and seed quantity calculator.
4. Order seeds early, especially for the first indoor sowings in late winter.
5. Plan succession sowings and fall crops now, so they are not forgotten in summer.
6. Keep notes of what you planted and when, and adjust next year.

For a month-by-month list of all garden jobs, not just planting, see the gardening calendar.

Notes for common crops

• Tomatoes: transplant after the last frost once nights stay above about 50°F. Planting into cold soil slows them more than waiting a week.
• Peppers and eggplant: even more sensitive to cold than tomatoes. Wait an extra week or two, and consider black plastic mulch to warm the soil.
• Peas: one of the first crops of spring. Sow as soon as the soil can be worked; they tolerate light frost and struggle in summer heat.
• Lettuce: sow small amounts every two to three weeks from early spring. Give midsummer sowings afternoon shade, and resume regular sowings in late summer for fall.
• Carrots: sow directly, keep the surface moist until they germinate, and sow again in midsummer for a fall crop that sweetens in cold weather.
• Beans: wait for warm soil. Sow bush beans every three weeks until about two months before your first fall frost.
• Squash and cucumbers: sow in warm soil after the last frost, or transplant carefully from individual pots.
• Broccoli and cabbage: transplant in early spring for an early summer harvest, or in mid to late summer for fall, when they often perform best.
• Garlic: plant in fall for harvest the following summer.

For more detail on any crop, see the plant database.

Keeping a planting record

A planting calendar works best alongside your own records. Each time you sow or plant, note the date, the crop and variety, where it went, and later when you first harvested it. Over a couple of seasons, you will see how your garden’s timing compares with the averages. You may find your soil warms later than expected, or that a particular sowing of lettuce always bolts, and you can shift your dates accordingly. Records also make crop rotation easy, because you can see which plant families grew in each bed.

When the weather does not cooperate

Every spring is different. In a cold, wet spring, hold back warm-season crops until the soil warms, even if the calendar says go. In an early, warm spring, cool-season crops may need to go in sooner, before heat arrives. A late frost forecast means covering tender transplants or delaying planting. The calendar gives you the plan; the weather decides the details.

Planting for continuous harvests

A planting calendar is not just about the first sowing. Planning several plantings of the same crop keeps food coming all season. A simple approach is to divide crops into three groups. One-time crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, winter squash and garlic, are planted once and harvested over a long period. Repeat crops, such as lettuce, radishes, beans, cilantro and carrots, are sown every two to three weeks while the weather suits them. Seasonal pairs, such as spring peas followed by summer beans, or spring broccoli followed by fall broccoli, share the same bed at different times. Planning these groups at the start of the year makes it easy to keep every bed productive from spring to fall.

Frequently asked questions