Regional guide

Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide

OSU Extension all-season Oklahoma garden guide for site selection, crop hardiness, soil temperature, shade, and spring crop windows.

Climate signals

• Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide, Published Feb. 2021, Id: HLA-6004, by David Hillock and Brenda Sanders, says a successful site has full or near full sunlight, deep, well-drained, fertile soil, and a water supply.
• Light shade can support beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, chard, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, and turnips, but harvest size or form may be reduced.
• Fruiting vegetables may benefit from afternoon shade during hot periods, while poorly drained, thin, sand, or clay sites may need raised beds or container gardening.
• Cool season vegetables do best when average daily temperatures are 70 F or less, and warm season vegetables do best at 70 F to 90 F.
• The guide groups vegetables as hardy, semi-hardy, tender, and very tender, and says differences in suggested planting dates range from earliest for southeast Oklahoma to latest for the northwest.

Planning notes

• Specific climate and weather, plus season extension, can shift the listed windows; refine the guide for local Oklahoma timing.
• For cool season vegetables, soil temperature at seed depth should be at least 40F; for warm season vegetables, soil temperature at seed depth should be at least 50F.
• Cool-season rows include Beet March 10-20 and Broccoli March 10.
• Cabbage Feb.15 to March 10, Carrot Feb.15 to March 10, and Cauliflower Feb.15 to March 10 use the same early cool-season window.
• Chard, Kohlrabi, Lettuce, Peas, Spinach, and Turnip are listed for Feb.15 to March 10; Radish is listed for March 1 to April 15.
• Warm season vegetables include Beans, Green or Wax April 10-30, Cucumber April 10-30 or later, and Eggplant April 10-30.
• Okra April 10-30 or later, Pepper April 10-30 or later, and Pumpkin April 10-30 or later share the mid-April warm window.
• Sweet Corn is listed for Mar. 25-April 30 and Tomato for April 10-30.
• Cantaloupe May 1-20, Watermelon May 1-20, and Squash, Winter May 15-June 15 are later warm-season rows.
• Onion, Potato, Rhubarb, Asparagus, Sweet Potato, Southern Pea, Summer Squash, and Cantaloupe are source rows with no priority link.
• Use priority catalog links as crop-level examples, not OSU 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.

• Detroit Dark Red Beet Vegetable · Cool · 58 days
• Waltham 29 Broccoli Vegetable · Cool · 74 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
• Early White Vienna Kohlrabi Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
• Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
• Sugar Snap Pea Vegetable · Cool · 62 days
• French Breakfast Radish Vegetable · Cool · 28 days
• Bloomsdale Spinach Vegetable · Cool · 42 days
• Purple Top White Globe Turnip Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
• Provider Bush Bean Vegetable · Warm · 50 days
• Marketmore 76 Cucumber Vegetable · Warm · 58 days
• Black Beauty Eggplant Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
• Clemson Spineless Okra Vegetable · Warm · 56 days
• California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
• Small Sugar Pumpkin Vegetable · Warm · 100 days
• Waltham Butternut Squash Vegetable · Warm · 95 days
• Golden Bantam Sweet Corn Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
• Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
• Sugar Baby Watermelon Vegetable · Warm · 80 days

Related regional guides

• Oklahoma Fall Vegetable Garden An Oklahoma fall vegetable guide for OSU Extension's July-through-October planting windows, summer establishment problems, and season-extension cautions.

Source: Oklahoma State University Extension Oklahoma Garden Planning Guide