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.
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.