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A vegetable planting calendar organizes the growing year by matching each crop to the right month for your climate, keyed to two dates: your average last spring frost and your average first fall frost. Cool-season crops are timed a few weeks before the last frost, warm-season crops a few weeks after it, and fall crops are counted backward from the first frost. This guide gives a full month-by-crop table, indoor-start timing, and soil temperatures in °F so you can build a calendar that fits your USDA zone rather than a generic one.
We do not test or physically handle the plants and products we cover; our guidance draws on horticultural extension research and the aggregated experience in thousands of owner reviews, as explained in how we rank.
The two dates every calendar hangs on
Every reliable planting calendar is built around two anchors, not fixed months. The first is your average last spring frost, the point after which killing frosts are unlikely. The second is your average first fall frost, when cold returns. The span between them is your frost-free growing season, which ranges from under 100 days in the far north to nearly year-round on the Gulf and West coasts.
Once you know these two dates, most planting instructions become simple arithmetic. "Sow 4 weeks before last frost" or "start indoors 8 weeks before last frost" translates to a real date for your yard. The master timing logic is covered in detail in when to plant vegetables; this calendar puts it into a month grid.
Month-by-crop planting calendar
The table below shows the typical planting action for common crops across a temperate-zone year (roughly zones 5 to 7, last frost mid-April, first frost mid-October). Shift every entry earlier in warm zones and later in cold ones.
| Crop | Start indoors | Sow/transplant outside | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onions & leeks | Jan to Feb | Mar to Apr | Cool |
| Peppers & eggplant | Feb to Mar | May | Warm |
| Tomatoes | Mar to early Apr | May (after last frost) | Warm |
| Broccoli & cabbage | Feb to Mar | Apr; again Jul for fall | Cool |
| Peas | — | Mar to Apr (direct) | Cool |
| Lettuce & spinach | Optional | Mar to May; Aug to Sep | Cool |
| Carrots & beets | — | Apr to Jun; Jul to Aug | Cool |
| Beans | — | May to Jul (direct) | Warm |
| Cucumbers & squash | Apr (optional) | May to Jun | Warm |
| Garlic | — | Oct to Nov (for next summer) | Cool |
Notice several crops appear twice: cool-season vegetables like lettuce, carrots and brassicas get a spring window and a fall window, with the summer heat in between too hot for good quality.
Soil temperature is the real trigger
Calendar months are shorthand for soil temperature, which is what seeds actually respond to. A cold, wet spring can push every date back two weeks regardless of the calendar. A cheap soil thermometer removes the guesswork.
| Crop group | Minimum soil temp | Ideal soil temp |
|---|---|---|
| Peas, spinach, lettuce | 40°F | 50 to 65°F |
| Carrots, beets, brassicas | 45°F | 55 to 75°F |
| Beans, corn, cucumbers | 60°F | 70 to 85°F |
| Tomatoes, peppers, melons | 60 to 65°F | 70 to 90°F |
If soil is below a crop's minimum, seeds sit and often rot rather than germinate. This is why beans and squash sown "on schedule" into cold May soil fail while the same seed sown two weeks later races ahead.
Indoor seed-starting schedule
The left column of the master table depends entirely on counting back from last frost. Get this wrong and transplants are either leggy and overgrown or too small to set out.
- 10 to 12 weeks before last frost — onions, leeks, celery.
- 8 to 10 weeks before — peppers, eggplant.
- 6 to 8 weeks before — tomatoes, tomatillos.
- 4 to 6 weeks before — broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce.
- 2 to 4 weeks before — cucumbers, squash, melons (they grow fast and dislike root disturbance).
Harden off every indoor-grown seedling over 7 to 10 days before it goes outside, gradually exposing it to sun and wind so it is not shocked.
How the calendar splits into seasons
The year breaks into distinct planting windows, each with its own crop list. Spring and fall are the busy cool-season bookends; summer is for heat-lovers and fall starts; winter is for planning and indoor starts in cold zones, or active growing in warm ones.
- Spring — cool-season sowings, then warm-season after last frost. See what to plant in spring.
- Summer — heat crops plus the first fall brassica starts. See what to plant in summer.
- Fall — a second cool-season wave and overwintering garlic. See what to plant in fall.
- Winter — indoor starts, planning, and mild-zone growing. See what to plant in winter.
Shifting the calendar for your zone
The master table assumes a mid-April last frost. Use the offsets below to move every date to your region.
| USDA zone | Approx. last frost | Shift from master table |
|---|---|---|
| 3 to 4 | Late May | 4 to 6 weeks later |
| 5 to 6 | Mid-April to early May | Baseline to 2 weeks later |
| 7 | Late March to mid-April | 2 weeks earlier |
| 8 | Early to mid-March | 4 to 6 weeks earlier |
| 9 to 10 | Feb or frost-free | 8+ weeks earlier; winter is prime |
In zones 9 and 10 the whole logic inverts: summer is the hard season and the cool months are peak growing time, so the calendar's "fall and winter" become the main vegetable season.
Building in succession and rotation
A calendar is not a single planting date but a rhythm. Fast crops like lettuce, radishes and bush beans should be re-sown every 2 to 3 weeks so the harvest is steady rather than all at once. When a spring crop finishes, a summer or fall crop follows it in the same bed. Keep basic crop rotation in mind: avoid following one plant family with the same family, especially brassicas and tomatoes, to limit soil disease.
Turning the calendar into a working plan
- Confirm your frost dates first — every other date depends on them.
- Keep a soil thermometer — it overrides the calendar in an unusual spring.
- Mark indoor-start dates now — they arrive weeks before anything happens outside.
- Plan the fall garden in summer — fall sowing dates fall while summer crops are still producing.
- Write the plan down — a dated list beats memory once several crops overlap.
Related: the seasonal detail pages for cool season vegetables and warm season vegetables, plus the full Seeds & Vegetable Growing hub, and how we rank.