Western, northern, Southern Maryland, and Eastern Shore sites can shift from this Central Maryland baseline.
Regional guide
New Jersey Frost-Range Seed-Starting Garden
Rutgers NJAES seed-starting guide for New Jersey gardeners using local last-frost ranges, cool-season transplants, and warm-season soil readiness.
Regional timing
Current regional planting plan
Rutgers NJAES seed-starting guide for New Jersey gardeners using local last-frost ranges, cool-season transplants, and warm-season soil readiness.
Source-backed timing
Rutgers NJAES Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors
New Jersey Frost
183 frost-free days
May 1 last frost
spring release
Oct 31 first frost
fall limit
- Rutgers NJAES says the easiest way to start a vegetable garden is direct seeding after the weather warms.
- It says tomatoes and peppers cannot be planted until after the last frost and after the soil has warmed; if direct-seeded then, they need more than 100 days to produce the first fruit.
- The guide warns not to start plants too early because early starts can become elongated, pale green, and weak.
- Catalog priority
- 21 priority crops 21 catalog examples
- Climate checks
- 6 climate signals 10 planning notes
- Timing basis
- Using Central Maryland dates May 1 to Oct 31
Provider Bush Bean, Waltham 29 Broccoli, Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts, Golden Acre Cabbage
For lettuce, the example uses a mid-April garden planting and a 5 to 6 week indoor-start window, or roughly early to mid-March.
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.
Delaware Frost
University of Delaware Cooperative Extension guide for frost-probability planning, succession rows, fall crops, and tender-crop timing in Delaware.
Climate signals
- Rutgers NJAES says the easiest way to start a vegetable garden is direct seeding after the weather warms.
- It says tomatoes and peppers cannot be planted until after the last frost and after the soil has warmed; if direct-seeded then, they need more than 100 days to produce the first fruit.
- The guide warns not to start plants too early because early starts can become elongated, pale green, and weak.
- Warm season crops cannot be transplanted into the garden until all danger of frost is past.
- For New Jersey, Rutgers gives a last-frost range from April 20 in extreme southern New Jersey to June 1 in the colder northwest and says to contact the county Rutgers Cooperative Extension office for the local last frost date.
- Cool season crops withstand frost and may usually be planted outside much earlier, in mid to late April.
Planning notes
- In the Rutgers example, a May 15 last frost date means tomatoes, which need 6 to 8 weeks from seeding to transplant, should be seeded indoors between mid-March and April 1.
- For lettuce, the example uses a mid-April garden planting and a 5 to 6 week indoor-start window, or roughly early to mid-March.
- Table 3 lists beans and sweet corn as poor transplant candidates that need 2 to 3 weeks indoors; Rutgers says to use peat pots or pellets for these poor-transplanting crops to minimize root disturbance.
- Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower are good cool-season transplants that need 6 to 7 weeks indoors.
- Celery, onions, and leeks are cool-season crops that need 10 to 12 weeks indoors.
- Eggplant and peppers are warm-season crops that need 8 to 10 weeks indoors.
- Cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and squash are moderate warm-season transplants that need 2 to 3 weeks indoors.
- Tomatoes are good warm-season transplants that need 6 to 8 weeks indoors.
- The table defines cool season as transplants that tolerate frost and warm season as plants that cannot be transplanted until after all danger of frost and after soil has warmed.
- Rutgers says carrots, beets, and peas should always be seeded directly in the garden, so use this guide to separate indoor-start crops from direct-sow rows.
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
- Waltham 29 Broccoli Vegetable · Cool · 74 days
- Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts Vegetable · Cool · 100 days
- Golden Acre Cabbage Vegetable · Cool · 64 days
- Snowball Y Cauliflower Vegetable · Cool · 70 days
- Tall Utah Celery Vegetable · Cool · 110 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
- Lacinato Kale Vegetable · Cool · 60 days
- Early White Vienna Kohlrabi Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
- American Flag Leek Vegetable · Cool · 120 days
- Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Hale's Best Jumbo Melon Vegetable · Warm · 85 days
- Clemson Spineless Okra Vegetable · Warm · 56 days
- Evergreen Bunching Onion Vegetable · Shoulder · 65 days
- California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
- Small Sugar Pumpkin Vegetable · Warm · 100 days
- Waltham Butternut Squash Vegetable · Warm · 95 days
- Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
Related regional guides
- Delaware Frost-Probability Vegetable Garden University of Delaware Cooperative Extension guide for frost-probability planning, succession rows, fall crops, and tender-crop timing in Delaware.
- Central Maryland Planting Calendar Vegetable Garden A UMD Extension Central Maryland planting-calendar guide for frost assumptions, warm-soil crops, successions, transplants, and crop windows.
- Virginia Hardiness Zone Vegetable Planting Guide A Virginia Cooperative Extension guide for USDA hardiness-zone vegetable planting tables, frost ranges, microclimates, row covers, and crop windows.