Regional guide
Upper Midwest Short-Season Garden
A frost-aware guide for northern gardeners who need quick cool-season starts, protected warm-season transplants, and reliable fall repeats.
Climate signals
- Use soil temperature and local freeze dates instead of hardiness zone alone.
- Cool-season crops can start early once soil can be prepared.
- Warm-season transplants wait until after the last frost and settled soil warmth.
Planning notes
- Build the spring plan around peas, spinach, lettuce, radish, onions, and brassica transplants.
- Reserve protected space for tomatoes, peppers, basil, cucumbers, squash, melons, and other warm-season crops.
- Use late-summer repeats for kohlrabi, lettuce, radish, spinach, kale, and turnip where the fall window allows.
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.
- Sugar Snap Pea Vegetable · Cool · 62 days
- Bloomsdale Spinach Vegetable · Cool · 42 days
- Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- French Breakfast Radish Vegetable · Cool · 28 days
- Lacinato Kale Vegetable · Cool · 60 days
- Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
- California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
- Delicata Winter Squash Vegetable · Warm · 100 days
Related regional guides
- Minnesota Soil-Temperature Vegetable Garden UMN Extension guide for Minnesota vegetable timing built around soil temperature, freeze-date tools, and short-season transplants.