Planting calendar

Zone 7 Planting Calendar (7a & 7b): Printable, by Month

Last updated September 14, 2026

Zone 7 at a glance

Zone 7 runs winter lows of 0 to 10°F, and is conventionally taken to average its last spring frost around April 5 and its first fall frost around November 1 — about 210 frost-free days. Seven months frost-free. Mid-summer heat, not frost, becomes the limiting factor for lettuce and spinach.

Sow frost-tolerant crops (peas, spinach, radishes, lettuce, kale, carrots) 6 to 2 weeks before April 5. Plant warm-season crops (beans, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers) 1 to 3 weeks after it. Sow a second round of greens and roots about 10 to 12 weeks before November 1.

Typical regions in zone 7: New York City, Boston, St. Louis, Nashville, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City and much of Virginia and Tennessee.

Zone 7 planting chart

Zone 7 vegetable planting calendar: indoor start, direct sow and transplant windows by month for 12 beginner crops — Every sowing window for zone 7 on one page, drawn from the same data as the tables below. Dashed lines mark the average last frost (April 5) and first frost (November 1).

Month by month in zone 7

9 of the 12 months have something to plant in zone 7. Rows marked re-sow are succession sowings — the same crop planted again every 14 days for a continuous harvest, up to the last date it can still mature before November 1.

January

Crop	What to do	Window
Onion	Start indoors	January 25 - February 8
Pepper	Start indoors	January 25 - February 8

February

Crop	What to do	Window
Kale	Start indoors	February 22 - March 8
Onion	Start indoors	January 25 - February 8
Pepper	Start indoors	January 25 - February 8
Tomato	Start indoors	February 8 - February 22
Peas	Direct sow outdoors	February 22 - March 8
Spinach	Direct sow outdoors	February 22 - March 8

March

Crop	What to do	Window
Cucumber	Start indoors	March 8 - March 15
Kale	Start indoors	February 22 - March 8
Carrot	Direct sow outdoors	March 15 - March 22
Kale	Direct sow outdoors	March 8 - March 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Direct sow outdoors	March 8 - March 22
Peas	Direct sow outdoors	February 22 - March 8
Radish	Direct sow outdoors	March 8 - March 22
Spinach	Direct sow outdoors	February 22 - March 8
Onion	Transplant outdoors	March 8 - March 22
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing July 30
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 24
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 18
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 24

April

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Direct sow outdoors	April 12 - April 19
Cucumber	Direct sow outdoors	April 19 - April 26
Zucchini	Direct sow outdoors	April 19 - April 26
Pepper	Transplant outdoors	April 19 - April 26
Tomato	Transplant outdoors	April 12 - April 19
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing July 30
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 24
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 18
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 24

May

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing July 30
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 24
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 18
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 24

June

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing July 30
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 24
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 18
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 24

July

Crop	What to do	Window
Carrot	Direct sow for a fall crop	July 16 - July 30
Peas	Direct sow for a fall crop	July 26 - August 9
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing July 30
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 24
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 18
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 24

August

Crop	What to do	Window
Kale	Direct sow for a fall crop	August 5 - August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Direct sow for a fall crop	August 10 - August 24
Peas	Direct sow for a fall crop	July 26 - August 9
Spinach	Direct sow for a fall crop	August 10 - August 24
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing August 19
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 19
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 24
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 18
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing August 24

September

Crop	What to do	Window
Radish	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 4 - September 18
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 18

October

Nothing to sow outdoors in October in zone 7. Crops already in the ground keep growing and keep being harvested.

November

Nothing to sow outdoors in November in zone 7. Crops already in the ground keep growing and keep being harvested.

December

Nothing to sow outdoors in December in zone 7. Crops already in the ground keep growing and keep being harvested.

Nothing to sow outdoors in October, November, December in zone 7. Use the time to plan beds, order seed, build a compost pile, or start long-season crops under a light indoors.

Every crop, sowing to harvest

One row per crop, with the indoor start where it applies, the outdoor planting window, the second fall sowing where the season allows it, and the earliest realistic harvest.

Harvest dates assume the earliest outdoor planting in the window and the crop's published days-to-harvest range. Weather moves all of it.
Crop	Start indoors	Plant outdoors	Fall sowing	Re-sow until	Harvest from
Radish	-	Direct sow outdoors: March 8 - March 22	September 4 - September 18	September 18	March 30 - April 7
Lettuce (leaf)	-	Direct sow outdoors: March 8 - March 22	August 10 - August 24	August 24	April 17 - May 2
Spinach	-	Direct sow outdoors: February 22 - March 8	August 10 - August 24	August 24	April 8 - April 18
Bush beans	-	Direct sow outdoors: April 12 - April 19	-	August 19	June 1 - June 11
Zucchini	-	Direct sow outdoors: April 19 - April 26	-	-	June 8 - June 18
Kale	February 22 - March 8	Direct sow outdoors: March 8 - March 22	August 5 - August 19	August 19	April 22 - May 7
Peas	-	Direct sow outdoors: February 22 - March 8	July 26 - August 9	-	April 18 - May 3
Carrot	-	Direct sow outdoors: March 15 - March 22	July 16 - July 30	July 30	May 24 - June 3
Cucumber	March 8 - March 15	Direct sow outdoors: April 19 - April 26	-	-	June 13 - June 28
Tomato	February 8 - February 22	Transplant outdoors: April 12 - April 19	-	-	June 16 - July 6
Pepper	January 25 - February 8	Transplant outdoors: April 19 - April 26	-	-	June 28 - July 18
Onion	January 25 - February 8	Transplant outdoors: March 8 - March 22	-	-	June 16 - July 6

Zone 7a vs 7b: what the letter means

Zone 7 covers places whose coldest night of the year averages 0 to 10°F. USDA splits it into two 5-degree halves: 7a (0 to 5°F) and 7b (5 to 10°F).

The letter tells you about winter survival — whether a perennial left in the ground makes it through the coldest night. It says nothing about when your last spring frost arrives, and that date decides every sowing window on this page. New York (LaGuardia), NY (7b) and Salt Lake City, UT (7b) are both zone 7, yet their typical last frosts are 13 days apart: Mar 26 and Apr 8.

So for vegetables, ignore the letter. Find the frost dates for the weather station nearest you — the table below covers 6 zone 7 cities — and enter them in the interactive calendar. Every window recalculates from your dates.

Frost dates for cities in zone 7

Same zone, frost dates weeks apart — which is why the calendar asks for your own dates rather than trusting the zone.

Show safer 30% and 10% dates

NOAA 1991–2020 normals for each city's weather station (usually the airport). The **typical** date has a 50% chance of frost after it in spring, or before it in fall; at **10%** the risk is 1 year in 10.
City	Zone	Last frost	30%	10%	First frost	30%	10%	Frost-free days
New York (LaGuardia), NY new york laguardia ap Use these dates	7b	Mar 26	Apr 1	Apr 6	Nov 25	Nov 17	Nov 10	244
Boston, MA boston logan intl ap Use these dates	7a	Apr 4	Apr 8	Apr 17	Nov 9	Nov 3	Oct 29	218
St. Louis, MO st louis lambert intl ap Use these dates	7a	Apr 2	Apr 7	Apr 17	Nov 4	Oct 30	Oct 23	215
Nashville, TN nashville intl ap Use these dates	7b	Mar 31	Apr 6	Apr 16	Nov 3	Oct 30	Oct 22	217
Oklahoma City, OK oklahoma city will rogers ap Use these dates	7b	Apr 4	Apr 10	Apr 20	Nov 2	Oct 29	Oct 21	213
Salt Lake City, UT salt lake city intl ap Use these dates	7b	Apr 8	Apr 16	Apr 30	Oct 31	Oct 25	Oct 17	204

Sources: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, annual/seasonal ; USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University) . The zone shown is read from the 2023 USDA map at each station's location.

Growing in zone 7

Seven months frost-free. Mid-summer heat, not frost, becomes the limiting factor for lettuce and spinach.

Soil beats calendar. Extension guidance for the hardiest crops is “as soon as the soil can be worked” or “as soon as the soil thaws” — not a fixed date. If you cannot crumble a handful of soil in your fist, wait, whatever the table says. Warm-season crops have a matching rule: beans want 60°F soil, cucumbers and squash 70°F.

About the bolting warnings. Cool-season crops run to seed and turn bitter in summer heat. The “may bolt in heat” flag above is a rough calendar rule — mid-June to the start of September, the same window across the whole country — because a hardiness zone carries no summer-temperature information at all. In zone 7 treat it as about right, with heat-tolerant varieties and afternoon shade extending it either side.

Where these dates come from. 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.

You can enter your own frost dates in the interactive calendar and every window on it recalculates from your numbers. Look up your local averages on the NOAA last-spring-freeze map. Note that an “average” frost date is the point where the chance of freezing drops below 50 percent, so for tender crops it is worth waiting a week or two past it.

Other zones: zone 3 , zone 4 , zone 5 , zone 6 , zone 8 , zone 9 , zone 10 . Or use the interactive calendar to check a single month.

Zone 7 questions

When is the last frost in zone 7?

Zone 7 is conventionally taken to average its last spring frost around April 5 and its first fall frost around November 1, giving roughly 210 frost-free days. Be aware that a hardiness zone is defined by winter minimum temperature, not by frost dates — these are widely-used approximations, not official USDA figures. Get your real dates from the NOAA freeze-date map or your county cooperative extension office.

What can I plant now in zone 7?

Use the month-by-month table on this page. The pattern is: frost-tolerant crops like peas, spinach and radishes go in 6 to 2 weeks before April 5; warm-season crops like beans, zucchini and tomatoes go in 1 to 3 weeks after it; and cool-season crops get a second sowing about 10 to 12 weeks before November 1.

Can I grow tomatoes in zone 7?

Yes. In zone 7, start tomato seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before April 5 or buy a seedling, then transplant 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost once nights stay above 50°F. With 210 frost-free days there is comfortable room for any variety, including large beefsteak types.

How many harvests can I get in zone 7?

Two full rounds: a spring planting of cool-season crops, a summer planting of warm-season crops, and a fall sowing of greens and roots in the same beds.

Does a raised bed change these dates in zone 7?

Yes, in spring. A raised bed warms 2 to 3 weeks earlier than open ground, so you can bring the early sowings forward by up to two weeks. Autumn dates are unchanged, since the first frost arrives on the same day regardless of your setup.

What is the difference between zone 7a and 7b?

Five degrees in the average coldest night of the year. Zone 7a averages 0 to 5°F at its coldest and zone 7b 5 to 10°F. The letter matters for perennials on the edge of winter hardiness. It does not change vegetable planting dates, which follow your frost dates — the calendar on this page applies to both halves.

Is zone 7a or 7b better for tomatoes?

Neither — the letter does not decide it. 7a and 7b differ only in how cold the coldest winter night gets, and tomatoes grow in summer, long after that night has passed. What matters is the length of your frost-free season. Within zone 7, New York (LaGuardia), NY (7b) averages 244 frost-free days and Salt Lake City, UT (7b) only 204. Check the city table on this page, or enter your own frost dates in the calendar.

What can I plant in July in zone 7?

In zone 7, July plantings are: sow for a fall crop — carrot and peas; re-sow every 14 days — bush beans, carrot, kale, lettuce (leaf), radish and spinach. The July table gives the exact window for each. Cool-season sowings in July may bolt in the heat.

When does fall planting start in zone 7?

Sowings for a fall harvest in zone 7 start around July 16 with carrot and run to about September 18 with radish. Each date is counted back from the average first frost (November 1) by the crop's days to harvest plus two weeks, so a crop sown on time matures before the cold arrives.

Is there a printable PDF of the zone 7 planting calendar?

Not as a download yet. The chart and the month-by-month tables on this page print cleanly — use your browser's Print command and the menus, ads and questions are left off the page. A downloadable version is on the way.