Free tool
Vegetable Planting Calendar by USDA Zone
Last updated July 31, 2026
Pick your USDA hardiness zone and a month to see exactly what to start indoors, direct sow or transplant that month. Windows are calculated from each zone's average last spring frost and first fall frost, across the 12 crops most first gardens grow.
Do not know your zone? Enter your ZIP code on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, last revised in 2023.
One caveat worth reading before you plant anything: a hardiness zone describes winter lows, not frost dates. It is a useful default and most people know theirs, but it is a proxy. If you know your own average frost dates, the tool takes them directly — open “use your own frost dates” below the dropdowns.
What to plant this month
Know your own frost dates? Use them instead — they beat any zone
A hardiness zone describes winter lows, not frost dates, so the dates above are a rough default. If you have your local averages from NOAA or your county extension office, enter them and the whole calendar recalculates.
The year is ignored — only the month and day are used.
Full calendar for your zone
Each zone page has the complete month-by-month table, every crop's sowing and harvest window, and the frost dates behind them.
Frost dates and season length by zone
| Zone | Winter low | Avg last spring frost | Avg first fall frost | Frost-free days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 3 | -40 to -30°F | May 15 | September 15 | 123 |
| Zone 4 | -30 to -20°F | May 10 | September 25 | 138 |
| Zone 5 | -20 to -10°F | April 30 | October 10 | 163 |
| Zone 6 | -10 to 0°F | April 20 | October 20 | 183 |
| Zone 7 | 0 to 10°F | April 5 | November 1 | 210 |
| Zone 8 | 10 to 20°F | March 20 | November 15 | 240 |
| Zone 9 | 20 to 30°F | February 20 | December 10 | 293 |
| Zone 10 | 30 to 40°F | January 20 | December 25 | 339 |
These are zone-wide averages. A USDA hardiness zone describes average annual extreme minimum WINTER temperature — it is a winter-survival rating for perennials, not a frost-date band. The frost dates below are widely-used approximations for each zone, not official USDA figures, and a single zone spans hundreds of miles. Treat them as a default guess and replace them with your own local averages wherever you have them.
What is in the dataset
The calendar covers 12 crops across 8 zones. Each crop carries its sowing method and timing offset in weeks from the last frost, seed depth, plant and row spacing, minimum germination soil temperature, sun requirement and days to harvest. Fall sowing windows are calculated by backing off the first fall frost by the crop's slowest maturity plus a two-week buffer.
Timing is expressed in weeks relative to your average last spring frost (negative = before it). Ranges are deliberately conservative. Soil temperatures are minimums for reliable germination, not survival floors — several crops germinate below these figures, just slowly and unevenly.
Known limitation. Each crop carries a single spring window, so a long-season location will show months with no first sowing even though planting is perfectly possible then via succession sowing. Crops marked succession=true are routinely re-sown every 2-3 weeks while conditions allow. Modelling those repeat windows properly needs per-crop heat tolerance and local summer temperatures, which this dataset does not yet carry.
Crops covered: Radish, Lettuce (leaf), Spinach, Bush beans, Zucchini, Kale, Peas, Carrot, Cucumber, Tomato, Pepper, Onion. The full depth and spacing table is on the main guide, and the data is free to reuse with attribution (CC BY 4.0).
Where the numbers come from
Crop timings, soil temperatures and spacings are cross-checked against cooperative extension publications. Frost dates by zone are the weakest link in any calendar like this one — they are conventional approximations rather than official figures, which is exactly why the tool lets you substitute your own.
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023 revision) — Zone definitions and winter minimum-temperature bands.
- NOAA Climate.gov — average date of last spring freeze (interactive map) — Authoritative station-level frost dates; the 'average' date is where freeze probability drops below 50%.
- NOAA NCEI — US Climate Normals 1991-2020 — Freeze-probability thresholds (50/40/30/20/10%) for ~15,000 stations.
- UNH Cooperative Extension — Growing Vegetables: When to Plant Your Vegetable Garden — Weeks indoors before transplanting, planting time relative to last frost, direct-sow soil temperatures.
- Virginia Cooperative Extension 426-331 — Virginia's Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide — In-row and between-row plant spacing.
- Penn State Extension — Cool-season vs. Warm-season Vegetables — Frost-tolerance categories (hardy, semi-hardy, tender, very tender).
Nothing here replaces local advice. Your county cooperative extension office knows your frost dates, your soil and which varieties perform three streets away. Search “cooperative extension” plus your county name.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my USDA hardiness zone?
Enter your ZIP code on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map at planthardiness.ars.usda.gov. The map was revised in 2023, so a zone you looked up more than a few years ago may have shifted about half a zone warmer.
What does my hardiness zone actually tell me?
Only your average annual extreme minimum winter temperature, in 10°F bands. It is a winter-survival rating for perennials — it is not a frost-date band, and it says nothing about summer heat, humidity or rainfall. A zone 8 in Texas and a zone 8 in Oregon share a winter low and face completely different summers.
If zones are not frost dates, why use a zone at all?
Because it is a reasonable first guess and most people know their zone, while few know their frost dates. But a zone is genuinely a proxy here, not a source. If you have your local averages — from the NOAA freeze-date map or your county extension office — enter them in the tool above and every window recalculates from your numbers instead of ours.
Are these planting dates exact?
No, and no zone-based calendar can be. A single zone spans hundreds of miles, elevation alone can shift a frost date by two weeks, and the "average last frost" is by definition the date the chance of freezing drops below 50 percent — so planting on it is close to a coin flip. For tender crops, waiting a week or two past it is the safer read.
What is the difference between direct sowing and starting indoors?
Direct sowing means planting seed straight into its final position outdoors, which suits fast crops and anything root-based. Starting indoors means germinating under a light 6 to 12 weeks early and transplanting later, which is only worth it for long-season crops like tomatoes, peppers and onions.
Can I plant a second crop in the same season?
Yes, and the calendar shows it. Cool-season crops like radishes, lettuce, spinach, kale, peas and carrots can be sown again roughly 10 to 12 weeks before your first fall frost, and many taste better after a light frost. Zone 5 and warmer usually get two full rounds; zone 3 gets a tight one.
Why does the calendar for zones 9 and 10 look inverted?
Because it is. In zones 9 and 10 the limiting factor is summer heat rather than winter frost, so the prime season for greens and root crops runs from autumn through early spring, and June to September is the hard part of the year.