Arizona vegetable timing should be grouped by elevation because gardening occurs from almost sea level to over 7,000 feet.
Regional guide
Arizona Elevation-Band Vegetable Garden
UA Cooperative Extension guide for Arizona vegetable timing by elevation, heat, cold, frost dates, and crop adaptation.
Regional timing
Current regional planting plan
UA Cooperative Extension guide for Arizona vegetable timing by elevation, heat, cold, frost dates, and crop adaptation.
Source-backed timing
Ten Steps to a Successful Vegetable Garden
Arizona Elevation Bands
6 climate signals
Source
source cues
Local
conditions
- Ten Steps to a Successful Vegetable Garden is verified Peer Reviewed, with Publication Date: February 2015 and publication number az1435.
- Arizona vegetable timing should be grouped by elevation because gardening occurs from almost sea level to over 7,000 feet.
- Lower elevations up to 3,000 feet generally use an early spring period for warm-season crops and a late summer to winter period for cool-season crops.
- Catalog priority
- 30 priority crops 30 catalog examples
- Climate checks
- 6 climate signals 12 planning notes
- Timing basis
- Use regional source signals source guidance first
Provider Bush Bean, Detroit Dark Red Beet, Waltham 29 Broccoli, Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts
Microclimates occur throughout the property, so use elevation to select spots suited to warm or cool season vegetables.
Calendar
Convert regional timing into dated sowing, transplant, and harvest jobs.
Frost dates
Keep hardiness zone context separate from local first and last frost dates.
All regions
Compare this guide with the broader regional atlas.
Maricopa County
UA az1005 Maricopa County calendar for low-desert heat, spring/fall seasons, S/T/X rows, pest timing, and soil temperatures.
Climate signals
- Ten Steps to a Successful Vegetable Garden is verified Peer Reviewed, with Publication Date: February 2015 and publication number az1435.
- Arizona vegetable timing should be grouped by elevation because gardening occurs from almost sea level to over 7,000 feet.
- Lower elevations up to 3,000 feet generally use an early spring period for warm-season crops and a late summer to winter period for cool-season crops.
- Higher elevations 3,000 to 7,000 feet generally use one main cropping period planted during spring and early summer.
- In Central and Southern Arizona at higher elevations, an early fall planting of cool-season vegetables is usually productive.
- The planting-date guides are based on experience, observation, frost dates, hardiness, and other characteristics of vegetable species.
Planning notes
- Choose sites with plenty of morning sunlight and some afternoon shade; fruiting types do best with six to eight hours of full sun, while leafy and root vegetables tolerate partial shade.
- Microclimates occur throughout the property, so use elevation to select spots suited to warm or cool season vegetables.
- For 10-1,000 feet, bush beans have Feb. 1-Mar. 1 and Aug. 1-Sept. 1 windows.
- For 1,000-2,000 feet, bush beans have Feb. 15-Mar. 15 and July 25-Aug. 15 windows.
- For 2,000-3,000 feet, bush beans have Mar. 1-Apr. 1 and July 15-Aug. 15 windows.
- For 3,000-4,500 feet, beets have a Mar. 1-May 15 window.
- For 4,500-6,000 feet, tomato plants have a May 10-June 1 window.
- Above 6,000 feet, tomato plants have a May 25-June 10 window.
- Above 6,000 feet, bush beans run May 25-June 15, sweet corn runs June 1-10, and cucumber runs June 1-25.
- Above 6,000 feet, edible soy, muskmelon, and watermelon are marked Not adapted, so do not map those crop rows as high-elevation priorities.
- Find the listed Arizona location closest to your elevation and adjust with local experience, county Cooperative Extension advice, and local nurseries or garden centers.
- Use these priority catalog links as crop-level examples for UA elevation rows, not UA cultivar recommendations.
Catalog crop examples
These catalog entries match crops covered by the regional timing source; variety-specific details remain tied to each seed entry's own source.
- Provider Bush Bean Vegetable · Warm · 50 days
- Detroit Dark Red Beet Vegetable · Cool · 58 days
- Waltham 29 Broccoli Vegetable · Cool · 74 days
- Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts Vegetable · Cool · 100 days
- Golden Acre Cabbage Vegetable · Cool · 64 days
- Danvers 126 Carrot Vegetable · Shoulder · 70 days
- Snowball Y Cauliflower Vegetable · Cool · 70 days
- Bright Lights Swiss Chard Vegetable · Shoulder · 55 days
- Georgia Southern Collards Vegetable · Cool · 65 days
- Golden Bantam Sweet Corn Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Marketmore 76 Cucumber Vegetable · Warm · 58 days
- Black Beauty Eggplant Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Green Curled Endive Vegetable · Cool · 85 days
- Lacinato Kale Vegetable · Cool · 60 days
- Early White Vienna Kohlrabi Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
- Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Southern Giant Curled Mustard Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Clemson Spineless Okra Vegetable · Warm · 56 days
- Evergreen Bunching Onion Vegetable · Shoulder · 65 days
- Italian Flat Leaf Parsley Herb · Shoulder · 75 days
- Hollow Crown Parsnip Vegetable · Cool · 120 days
- Sugar Snap Pea Vegetable · Cool · 62 days
- California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
- Small Sugar Pumpkin Vegetable · Warm · 100 days
- French Breakfast Radish Vegetable · Cool · 28 days
- American Purple Top Rutabaga Vegetable · Cool · 90 days
- Bloomsdale Spinach Vegetable · Cool · 42 days
- Waltham Butternut Squash Vegetable · Warm · 95 days
- Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
- Purple Top White Globe Turnip Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
Related regional guides
- Maricopa County Low-Desert Vegetable Garden UA az1005 Maricopa County calendar for low-desert heat, spring/fall seasons, S/T/X rows, pest timing, and soil temperatures.
- Yuma County Planting and Harvesting Calendar UA az1615 Yuma County calendar for cool/warm seasons, alkaline/saline soils, pest pressure, crop rows, depths, and harvest windows.
- Pima County Vegetable Planting and Harvesting Guide UA Pima County half-month vegetable table with sow, transplant, harvest, do-not-plant markers, crop rows, and local timing examples.