Regional guide
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.
Climate signals
- Planting the Garden groups vegetables by hardiness or ability to withstand frost and cold temperatures.
- Very hardy vegetables can be planted four to six weeks before the frost-free date; source examples include potato tubers, onion sets, asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, collards, spinach, peas, lettuce, and turnips.
- Frost-tolerant vegetables can be planted two to three weeks before the frost-free date; source examples include cauliflower transplants, carrots, mustard, parsnip, beets, and radishes.
- Tender vegetables can be planted on or after the frost-free date; source examples include beans, sweet corn, summer squash, and tomato transplants.
- Warm-loving vegetables can be planted one to two weeks after the frost-free date and need warm temperatures and warm soil; source examples include watermelon, cucumbers, pumpkins, cantaloupe, peppers, eggplant, and sweet potatoes.
Planning notes
- Harden off transplants for 7 to 10 days before planting outdoors by gradually increasing outdoor time in cooler temperatures and brighter light.
- Before seeding, prepare a smooth seedbed, avoid compacting seeded areas, follow seed packet depth directions, and use the general rule that seed depth is two to four times the seed diameter or largest width.
- Use floating row covers after planting cucurbit crops for cucumber beetle protection, and remove row covers after flowering begins for pollination.
- Carrots can be planted around the end of March or first of April where soil is loose, deeply worked, well-drained, and free of clods or rocks.
- Plant onion sets in April; this guide does not use onion-evergreen-bunching as a priority catalog link because the source is onion sets, not bunching onion seed.
- Sow radish, lettuce, spinach, beet, and turnip seed late in August for cooler fall weather.
- Use these priority catalog links as crop-level examples for UVM's hardiness groups, not UVM 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.
- Bloomsdale Spinach Vegetable · Cool · 42 days
- Sugar Snap Pea Vegetable · Cool · 62 days
- Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Purple Top White Globe Turnip Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
- Georgia Southern Collards Vegetable · Cool · 65 days
- Waltham 29 Broccoli Vegetable · Cool · 74 days
- Golden Acre Cabbage Vegetable · Cool · 64 days
- Snowball Y Cauliflower Vegetable · Cool · 70 days
- Danvers 126 Carrot Vegetable · Shoulder · 70 days
- Southern Giant Curled Mustard Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Hollow Crown Parsnip Vegetable · Cool · 120 days
- Detroit Dark Red Beet Vegetable · Cool · 58 days
- French Breakfast Radish Vegetable · Cool · 28 days
- Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
- Provider Bush Bean Vegetable · Warm · 50 days
- Golden Bantam Sweet Corn Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Marketmore 76 Cucumber Vegetable · Warm · 58 days
- Small Sugar Pumpkin Vegetable · Warm · 100 days
- Sugar Baby Watermelon Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Hale's Best Jumbo Melon Vegetable · Warm · 85 days
- California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
- Black Beauty Eggplant Vegetable · Warm · 80 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.
- 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.
- 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.