Timing is everything in gardening. Plant too early and a late frost kills your seedlings. Plant too late and your tomatoes never ripen before fall. A planting calendar takes the guesswork out of your growing season by telling you exactly when to start seeds indoors, when to direct sow outdoors, and when to transplant — all based on your USDA hardiness zone.
The USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map divides North America into zones based on average annual minimum winter temperatures. Each zone spans a 10-degree Fahrenheit range, from the frigid zone 1 in interior Alaska to the tropical zone 13 in Puerto Rico. For most home gardeners across the United States, zones 2 through 11 cover nearly every backyard, raised bed, and community garden plot.
Your zone determines your frost dates — the average last spring frost and first fall frost — which define your growing season. A zone 5 gardener in Ohio has roughly 180 frost-free days, while a zone 9 gardener in southern California enjoys 300. That difference changes everything: which varieties to grow, when to start seeds, and whether you can squeeze in a second planting of beans or lettuce.
Below you will find planting calendars for zones 2 through 11, covering vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers. Each calendar includes specific date ranges for starting seeds indoors, direct sowing, transplanting, and expected harvest times, plus season-by-season "what to plant" guides. Select your zone to get a printable schedule you can pin to your potting bench.
Want more detail? Read our complete guide on when to plant vegetables by zone.
USDA zone 2 has average annual minimum temperatures of -50 to -40 F and one of the shortest, coolest growing seasons in North America, with a hard frost possible in any month and a frost-free window of roughly 11-13 weeks. Success depends on cold-hardy short-season varieties, indoor seed-starting, and season-extension structures.
USDA zone 3 is a cold continental climate with long, harsh winters (annual minimums of -40 to -30°F) and a short, intense growing season of roughly 90-115 frost-free days. Warm spells arrive late and frost returns early, so heat-loving crops require indoor starting and season-extension to mature.
Zone 4 is a cold continental climate with long, freezing winters (annual minimum temperatures of -30 to -20 F) and a short, often variable growing season of about four months. Hard frosts persist into late spring and return by mid-September, making variety selection and season extension essential.
Zone 5 has cold, snowy winters (annual lows of -20 to -10°F) and warm summers, giving a moderate but distinctly four-season climate with a roughly 5-month frost-free growing window. Spring warms slowly and the first hard fall freeze arrives by mid-October, so heat-loving crops must be started indoors and frost-tender work is bracketed tightly between mid-May and early October.
USDA zone 6 has cold winters with average annual minimums of -10 to 0 F and a moderate growing season of roughly 5.5-6 months between hard frosts. It supports a full warm-season garden in summer plus generous shoulder-season cool crops in spring and fall.
USDA zone 7 has average annual minimum temperatures of 0 to 10°F and a moderate four-season climate with mild winters, a long warm summer, and a generous ~190-day frost-free growing season. It supports both heat-loving summer crops and hardy fall/winter cool-season crops, often with light season extension.
USDA zone 8 has mild winters (average annual minimums 10 to 20°F) and long, hot summers, giving roughly eight months of frost-free growing plus productive cool-season shoulders in fall through early spring. The climate spans humid Southeast pine country to the drier Pacific Northwest lowlands and inland Southwest, but all share a long season that supports nearly every common garden crop.
USDA zone 9 has hot summers and mild, nearly frost-free winters, with an average annual minimum of 20-30°F and a growing season well over nine months. The limiting factor is summer heat, not cold, which inverts the calendar so cool-season crops flourish fall through spring while only heat-lovers persist in midsummer.
Zone 10 is a frost-free to nearly frost-free subtropical/tropical climate with hot, humid or hot-dry summers and warm, mild winters that rarely (if ever) dip below 30-35°F. The growing calendar is inverted relative to colder zones: winter is the prime vegetable-growing season while mid-summer heat, intense sun, and pests force a slowdown for most cool-season and many heat-sensitive crops.
USDA zone 11 is effectively frost-free year-round (average annual minimums 40-50°F), with a tropical to subtropical climate where the limiting factors are extreme summer heat, humidity, heavy rainfall, and intense pest and disease pressure rather than cold. The cool, drier "winter" months are the prime productive growing season, while high summer is the difficult off-season.
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