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Vegetable planting calendars by ZIP code and hardiness zone

Free month-by-month calendars showing when to start seeds indoors, direct sow, and transplant — built from the NOAA frost dates for your location, not a one-size-fits-all national chart. Browse by your city for ZIP-level frost timing, or pick your USDA hardiness zone.

Browse by state & city

Pick your state, then your city, for frost-aware dates from NOAA climate normals.

Browse by USDA hardiness zone

Know your zone? Jump straight to a zone-level calendar.

Why a planting calendar by ZIP code beats one by zone

USDA hardiness zones come from the average annual coldest temperature. They tell you whether a perennial will survive winter, but say nothing about the questions an annual vegetable gardener asks: when spring frost risk passes, when the soil warms, and how long the frost-free season runs. Those frost dates can shift by weeks between two towns in the same zone, so a calendar built from your local last and first frost dates beats one built from a zone number. We measured how far the two diverge in our analysis of 43,000 ZIP codes.

What the calendar works from

Three inputs do most of the work: your average last spring frost, your average first fall frost, and each crop’s own timing — indoor start, transplant age, cold tolerance, days to maturity, and harvest window. From those it works out when to start tomatoes indoors, set out peppers, direct-sow peas, and how late you can still plant fall spinach and expect a crop.

Spring counts from the last frost; fall counts backward

Spring dates are set from your last frost: cool-season crops go in before it, tender crops after it once the soil warms. Fall flips the logic — start at your first frost date and subtract the crop’s days to maturity, extra time for slower growth as the days shorten, and a buffer if you want more than one picking. That is why late-summer sowing dates feel so early. For the date itself, see last frost date explained.

The forecast still makes the final call

Frost normals are a planning tool, and they come with no guarantee. The calendar gets you to the right week; the ten-day forecast decides the day. A clear, calm night near freezing means cover the tender transplants or wait.