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Vegetable Planting Calendar by Frost Date (Free Tool + Printable)
Enter your last spring frost date (or pick a USDA zone for a typical date) and get start-indoors, transplant and fall-sowing dates for 24 common crops. Works for raised beds, containers and in-ground gardens.
Zone dates are typical averages. Check your local extension office or the NOAA frost-date data for your town; a week either way is normal.
How to read the dates
Start indoors is when to sow in trays under a grow light or a very bright window. Transplant / direct sow is when the plant goes into the bed. Cool-season crops (peas, spinach, lettuce, brassicas) go out before the last frost; warm-season crops (tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans) go out after it, once nights stay above about 50°F. Fall sowing counts back from your first fall frost so the crop matures before hard freezes.
Which crops to start indoors
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, onions, leeks, celery, broccoli, cabbage, kale and basil benefit from a head start under lights; see the seed starting guide for the $60 setup. Beans, peas, carrots, beets, radishes, corn, squash and cucumbers are sown straight into the bed. Use the companion planting chart to decide what shares a bed and the layout plans to place them.