Regional guide

Rhode Island Planting Calendar Vegetable Garden

URI Cooperative Extension calendar for Rhode Island gardeners using May 15/October 15 frost dates, method legend, and crop-row timing.

Climate signals

• The URI Cooperative Extension Rhode Island planting calendar says its dates are based on a final frost on May 15 and a first frost on October 15.
• It cautions gardeners to be aware of local microclimates that may make a garden cooler or warmer and alter frost dates.
• The calendar says transplants should be exposed to the outdoors for increasing periods over several days before planting, or hardened off.
• Its legend uses C for plant cloves, CR for plant crowns, I for start seeds indoors, S for direct-seed in garden, and T for transplant seedlings started indoors to the garden.

Planning notes

• Use the calendar's days until harvest column as a planning check before putting a crop into the Rhode Island frost window.
• Broccoli is listed at 60 to 90 days from transplant and uses indoor-start and transplant markers in the calendar.
• Snap beans are listed at 60 to 80 days and use direct-seed markers in the garden calendar.
• Lettuce for cutting is listed at 40 to 70 days and has repeated direct-seed markers across the season.
• Tomatoes are listed at 50 to 75 days from transplant and use indoor-start markers followed by a transplant marker.
• Melons are listed at 60 to 80 days from transplant and use an indoor-start marker followed by a transplant marker.
• Radishes are listed at 30 to 60 days and have repeated direct-seed markers across the spring and fall season.
• Use these priority catalog links as crop-level examples for URI's calendar rows, not as named-variety 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
• White Stem Bok Choy Vegetable · Cool · 45 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
• Tall Utah Celery Vegetable · Cool · 110 days
• Bright Lights Swiss Chard Vegetable · Shoulder · 55 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
• American Flag Leek Vegetable · Cool · 120 days
• Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
• Hale's Best Jumbo Melon Vegetable · Warm · 85 days
• Evergreen Bunching Onion Vegetable · Shoulder · 65 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
• Toma Verde Tomatillo Vegetable · Warm · 70 days
• Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
• Purple Top White Globe Turnip Vegetable · Cool · 55 days

Related regional guides

• Maine Coastal and Northern Vegetable Garden A UMaine planting-window guide for central Maine dates, coastal and northern timing shifts, spring greens, warm transplants, and fall rows.
• Central New Hampshire Memorial Day Vegetable Garden A UNH Extension guide for central New Hampshire's Memorial Day frost baseline, indoor starts, soil temperatures, and sequence plantings.
• Vermont Frost-Relative Vegetable Garden UVM Extension Master Gardener Planting the Garden guide for Vermont vegetable timing by crop hardiness and frost-free-date spacing.
• Massachusetts Extension Planting Chart Vegetable Garden A UMass Extension planting-chart guide for Massachusetts crop groups, frost risk, direct/transplant markers, succession, and regional timing shifts.
• Connecticut Crop Planning Calendar Vegetable Garden UConn Extension crop planning calendar for Connecticut vegetable growers using frost-aware field timing, indoor starts, cover crops, and fall reset windows.

Source: URI Cooperative Extension Rhode Island Planting Calendar