By late September, Zone 6 gardeners are already setting garlic and tulip bulbs, while Zone 9 gardeners will not sow fall lettuce until late October. A planting calendar exists to turn those scattered dates into one map. The short rule: count backward from your first fall frost, and forward from your last spring frost. Cool-season crops go in around the last spring frost; warm-season crops wait until the soil holds above 60°F (UGA CAES, Clemson HGIC). This page is the master map for every planting window on the site: each zone band below ties back to the 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, and each date ties back to NOAA/NWS frost normals.
Planting Calendar by Month, January Through December
A monthly planting guide answers the everyday question of what to plant in March or what belongs on the planting schedule for October. The calendar below lists one lead action per month for a temperate US garden (roughly Zones 5 to 7). Warmer zones run earlier in spring and later in fall; colder zones do the reverse.
| Month | Lead action |
|---|---|
| January | Start onions and leeks indoors under lights; order seed |
| February | Start peppers and slow crops indoors; check soil temperature late month |
| March | Direct-sow peas, spinach, and other hardy greens as soil thaws |
| April | Transplant hardy seedlings; direct-sow carrots and beets around last frost |
| May | Plant warm-season crops (tomatoes, peppers, squash) once soil holds above 60°F |
| June | Succession-sow beans and greens; set sweet potato slips |
| July | Start fall brassicas indoors; sow a second round of beans |
| August | Direct-sow fall carrots, spinach, and lettuce; plan garlic order |
| September | Overseed cool-season lawns; plant spring bulbs; sow cover crops |
| October | Plant garlic and spring bulbs before the ground freezes (timing is regional) |
| November | Mulch beds; finish bulb planting where ground has not frozen |
| December | Rest; review the year and plan next season’s windows |
Each row links to a dedicated page on the specific crop and its exact timing by zone and state, such as when to plant garlic in NC, when to plant tulip bulbs in Colorado, and when grass seed goes in, region by region.
Count Backward From Your First Frost Date to Find Your Window
The single most useful move in planning is to count back from your first frost date. Find your average first fall frost from your NOAA station or the frost-date lookup by state (the USDA zone does not provide it), then subtract the crop’s days to maturity plus a short buffer for slower fall growth. A non-frost-tender crop needing 60 days to mature, planted for a fall harvest, should go in the ground roughly 70 to 75 days before your first frost, since days shorten and growth slows as autumn arrives. Frost-tender crops (corn, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash) need an additional 14-day frost-tender factor on top of that (University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension G1343).
For spring, the count runs the other way: start from your last spring frost and count forward. Hardy crops can go out a week or two before that date; tender crops wait until it has safely passed. A simple worked example: if your first fall frost averages October 15 and you want a fall crop of 50-day lettuce, count back about 64 days (50 plus the 14-day fall factor for slower autumn growth, per University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension G1343) and sow around August 12. No frost date calculator is needed once you know your own average and the crop’s maturity number.
How Long Before Frost Should You Plant Bulbs, Garlic, or Cover Crops
Different fall plantings want different lead times before frost. The table below gives the week ranges most extension programs use.
| Plant category | Timing |
|---|---|
| Garlic, Northeast / cold climates | 6 to 8 weeks before first fall frost (Cornell Cooperative Extension) |
| Garlic, Upper Midwest / Plains | 2 to 3 weeks after first frost, before the ground freezes, about mid-October (SDSU Extension) |
| Spring bulbs (tulip, daffodil, crocus) | When soil falls below 60°F, mid-September through October (Rutgers NJAES) |
| Cover crops, legumes (clover, vetch) | 6 to 8 weeks before killing frost (Clemson HGIC, SARE) |
| Cover crops, non-legumes (cereal rye, oats) | 4 to 6 weeks before killing frost (Clemson HGIC, SARE) |
Garlic timing is regional and does not collapse to one national figure: the Northeast anchors to weeks before first frost, while the Upper Midwest anchors to planting after first frost but before the ground freezes. Garlic planted too late may not root before the ground freezes; planted too early in a warm fall, it can send up green shoots that winter poorly.
What Happens If You Plant Too Early in a Warm Fall
Planting too early in a warm fall is a common miss. Fall plantings are timed to soil that is cooling, not soil that is still warm. If you set garlic or bulbs while the soil is still holding summer heat, two things can go wrong: bulbs may break dormancy and push top growth that is then killed back by the first freeze, and garlic may produce leaves that drain the clove’s reserves before winter. Cover crops sown too soon can bolt or grow lanky.
The fix is to watch soil temperature, not just the calendar. Spring bulbs want soil that has dropped below about 60°F at planting depth (Rutgers NJAES), while garlic wants soil near 50°F at 4 inches deep (SDSU Extension). In a warm fall, that threshold arrives later than the calendar suggests, and planting a week or two later is better than planting too soon.
Planting Calendar by USDA Zone, Zone 3 Through Zone 10
The table below is the core data asset: a planting calendar reference by USDA zone, from Zone 3 through Zone 10. A USDA zone is a winter-minimum-temperature band and nothing else. It tells you whether a perennial survives your winter; it does not give you a frost date or a planting window. The average annual minimum temperature is definitional to the 2023 USDA map. The season-length column is only a coarse trend (higher zone numbers trend toward longer seasons), not a schedule.
| USDA zone | Avg annual min temp | Coarse season-length trend | Sample plants |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | -40 to -30°F | very short | garlic, kale, peas |
| 4 | -30 to -20°F | short | garlic, spinach, carrots |
| 5 | -20 to -10°F | short to moderate | garlic, lettuce, beets |
| 6 | -10 to 0°F | moderate | garlic, tulips, greens |
| 7 | 0 to 10°F | moderate to long | garlic, brassicas, peas |
| 8 | 10 to 20°F | long | onions, greens, carrots |
| 9 | 20 to 30°F | very long | lettuce, brassicas, peas |
| 10 | 30 to 40°F | year-round in most winters | greens, roots, herbs |
Read the zone as a temperature floor, not a calendar. Frost dates do not come from the zone: two towns in the same zone can differ by weeks in frost timing depending on latitude, elevation, and distance from the coast. To find your own frost dates, see the frost-date lookup by state, sourced to NOAA/NWS normals, and use them with the count-back and soil-temperature rules above.
What ‘Days to Maturity’ Means When You Read a Seed Packet
Days to maturity is the number that ties this whole calendar together, and seed packets state it in two different ways. For direct-sown crops (carrots, beans, radishes), days to maturity counts from the day the seed germinates in the ground. For transplanted crops (tomatoes, peppers, brassicas), it usually counts from the day you set the transplant out, not from the day you started the seed indoors. That distinction matters: a tomato listed at 75 days needs 75 days after transplanting, plus roughly four to eight weeks, depending on variety and extension program, that it spent as an indoor seedling.
When you read a seed packet, check whether the number assumes direct sowing or transplanting, then use it in the countdown rule above. A crop’s days to maturity, plus a fall buffer, is exactly what you subtract from your first frost date.
How Many Weeks Apart Should Fall and Spring Windows Be
For crops you can grow in two seasons, the gap between the fall and spring windows is not fixed weeks; it is set by summer heat and winter cold. In most temperate zones, the spring window closes when daytime highs climb past the crop’s comfort range (cool-season greens bolt in early summer heat), and the fall window opens again only once that heat breaks. The gap between them is not a set number of weeks; it is however long summer heat lasts in your area. In hot zones the gap is the opposite: summer is the off-season, and the two windows bracket it more widely.
The practical takeaway is that you do not choose the spacing; the climate does. You plant the same crop in the last cool stretch of spring and the first cool stretch of fall, and the weeks between them are whatever your summer imposes.
Fall Planting vs Spring Planting: Which Window Fits Your Crop
Fall planting versus spring planting is not a question of which is better; it is a question of which window fits the crop. The comparison below sorts common categories.
| Crop category | Better window | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Garlic and spring bulbs | Fall | They need a cold period over winter to root and vernalize |
| Cool-season greens | Both | Spring and fall both offer the mild temperatures they want |
| Warm-season fruiting crops | Spring | They need the full frost-free summer to ripen |
| Cover crops | Fall | They protect and build soil over the dormant season |
| Perennials and trees | Both, fall often better | Fall planting lets roots establish before summer stress |
A crop that needs cold (garlic) belongs in fall; a crop that needs heat (tomatoes) belongs in spring. Crops that want mild weather can take either window.
Does Every Crop Really Need to Wait for Soil to Warm or Cool
A calendar date alone is not always enough, and treating it as a hard rule is a common mistake. The date is a stand-in for a soil condition. Warm-season crops are not waiting for May 15; they are waiting for soil that holds above 60°F, which May 15 usually signals in a given zone. In a cold, wet spring, that soil temperature arrives late, and seed sown on the calendar date may rot before it germinates.
So the honest answer is that the calendar gets you close, and soil temperature confirms it. A soil thermometer at planting depth is the tiebreaker in an unusual year. This is why the per-crop pages on this site pair a calendar window with a soil-temperature threshold rather than a single date.
Why Some Regions Never Get a Reliable Spring Window
Some regions never get a reliable spring window at all, and it is worth naming why. In the warmest zones, spring is not a gentle ramp; it is a short bridge between winter and a sudden, punishing summer. Cool-season crops that need a sustained stretch of mild weather can be caught by an early heat wave that sends them straight to bolting. Gardeners in the Deep South and the desert Southwest often find their most reliable cool-season window is fall into winter, not spring.
If your spring window keeps failing, the problem is usually not your timing within spring; it is that your climate barely has one. The fix is to shift the crop to the fall-through-winter window, where the mild stretch is longer and more dependable.
If You Missed Your Region’s Fall Window, Here Is What Still Works
Missing the fall planting window is not the end of the season. If you are past the ideal date, several paths still work. Fast-maturing greens (arugula, spinach, some lettuces) can still produce under a row cover or low tunnel that buys a few degrees and a few weeks. Garlic planted late will often still root if the ground has not frozen solid, and it may simply size up more slowly in spring. Spring bulbs can go in as long as you can dig the soil; late-planted tulips still usually bloom, just a touch later.
The one thing that does not work is pretending the window is still open for slow crops. If a crop needs 70 days and you have 30 before hard frost, switch to a faster crop or protect the bed and wait for the spring window instead.
Planting Dates for the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, and Deep South
Zone alone does not capture region, so it helps to name a few. The Pacific Northwest west of the Cascades has mild, wet winters and a long, cool shoulder season; its planting dates favor a long cool-season window and a late, gentle warm-up. The Midwest swings hard between a cold winter and a hot, humid summer, so its windows are shorter and its last-frost date matters intensely. The Deep South runs the calendar almost inverted, with a productive cool season from fall through early spring and a summer that is the off-season for many crops.
| Region | Character | Planting emphasis |
|---|---|---|
| Pacific Northwest | Mild, wet, long cool season | Extended spring and fall; overwintered crops |
| Midwest | Cold winter, hot summer | Tight windows keyed to last and first frost |
| Deep South | Hot summer, mild winter | Fall-to-spring cool season; summer off-season |
Find your zone in the table above, then adjust for your region’s character. The state-specific pages on this site do exactly that.
Plant, Sow, Start, or Set Out: Which Verb Applies to Your Crop
Seed packets and calendars use several verbs, and they are not interchangeable by accident. To sow (or direct-sow) means to place seed directly in the ground where it will grow. To start means to germinate seed early, usually indoors, to be moved later. To transplant or set out means to move an established seedling into the garden. To plant is the general term that can mean any of these.
Which verb applies depends on the crop’s method. Carrots are sown, because they resent transplanting. Tomatoes are started indoors, then set out. Garlic is planted from cloves, not sown from seed at all. When a calendar says plant tomatoes in May, it means set out transplants; when it says sow carrots in April, it means seed the row directly. Reading the verb tells you the method, and the method sets the date.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a planting calendar work the same in every state? No. A calendar is only as accurate as the frost dates behind it, and those shift by weeks across and within states. Use the zone and region as a starting point, then confirm with your own NOAA station and state extension office.
How often should I recheck my frost date? Check it once against the current NOAA 1991-2020 normals, then revisit if you move or if your local station updates. The average changes slowly, but your particular year can vary widely around it, which is why soil temperature is the tiebreaker.
What is the difference between a planting calendar and a growing zone map? A growing zone map (the USDA map) tells you what survives your winter, based on average annual minimum temperature. A planting calendar tells you when to plant. The map is a temperature floor; the calendar is a schedule built partly from frost dates, which the map does not provide.
Can I use last year’s dates again this year? As a starting point, yes, since the averages change slowly. But last year’s actual weather was not average, and this year’s will not be either. Treat the dates as a plan and let soil temperature confirm the timing in an unusual spring or fall.
What if my zone map and my local extension office disagree? Follow your local extension office. Extension programs work from local station data and decades of regional experience, which is more specific than a national map. The map sets the broad band; your extension office fine-tunes it for your county.
Sources
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023, for zone definitions and average annual minimum temperatures.
- NOAA/NWS 1991-2020 Climate Normals for average first and last frost dates.
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension G1343 for the 14-day fall count-back factor.
- Cornell Cooperative Extension for garlic lead time in cold climates (weeks before first frost); SDSU Extension for garlic lead time in the Upper Midwest and the 50°F garlic soil-temperature threshold.
- Rutgers NJAES for the spring-bulb soil-temperature threshold.
- Clemson HGIC and SARE for legume and non-legume cover-crop lead times.
- UGA CAES and Clemson HGIC for the 60°F warm-season soil-temperature threshold.
- Additional state university extension programs cited on each crop- and state-specific page.
Last verified: 2026-08-11, against USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, NOAA/NWS 1991-2020 Climate Normals, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension G1343, Cornell Cooperative Extension, SDSU Extension, Rutgers NJAES, Clemson HGIC, SARE and UGA CAES.