Regional guide
Washington County Utah Two-Season Vegetable Garden
USU Washington County guide for elevation-driven frost seasons, St. George heat pause, short-season sites, and fall count-back timing.
Climate signals
- USU Extension says Washington County locations vary widely in elevation, and that elevation has significant influence on climate and growing season.
- St. George sits at 2,624 feet and has a frost-free growing season of more than six months.
- Enterprise sits at 5,346 feet, where the frost-free season generally begins the first week of June and ends by mid-September.
- In the short 3 1/2 months season, knowing when to plant is critical.
- USU says frost-free dates are average dates and can vary from season to season.
Planning notes
- Cold-hardy vegetables such as cabbage, onion, peas, spinach, and turnips can be planted before the danger of frost is over.
- Those cold-hardy crops tolerate cold temperatures but do not fare well when temperatures reach the mid-eighties and above.
- Beets, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips may be planted before the last frost date, but can be tender if above ground when the temperature drops well below freezing.
- Transplants such as tomato, pepper, eggplant, and melons need hardening off for 7 to 10 days before planting outdoors.
- In the St. George timing example, USU says to plant them outdoors after the first of April, the last avg. frost date.
- Corn, beans, and root vegetables such as carrots and beets are direct-seeded in the garden.
- In St. George, June through mid-September temperatures exceed 95 degrees nearly every day, creating a heat pause for many vegetables.
- High temperatures can render pollen sterile, and tomatoes and squash may have flowers wilt and die instead of forming fruits.
- Higher elevation gardens with cooler average temperatures may have better success during the hot summer period.
- USU says Washington County can have two growing seasons: spring crops before hot summer weather, and fall crops before frost.
- For fall planting, use the days-to-harvest count so the crop can bear before the first average frost on October 31.
- USU's example says a crop needing 60 days from planting to harvest should be counted back from October 30 and planted by about August 30.
- Potatoes are a source row without priority links because the catalog potato entry is a specific variety and this guide avoids implying USU cultivar recommendations.
- Use these priority catalog links as crop-row examples, not USU 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.
- Golden Acre Cabbage Vegetable · Cool · 64 days
- Evergreen Bunching Onion Vegetable · Shoulder · 65 days
- Sugar Snap Pea Vegetable · Cool · 62 days
- Bloomsdale Spinach Vegetable · Cool · 42 days
- Purple Top White Globe Turnip Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
- Detroit Dark Red Beet Vegetable · Cool · 58 days
- Danvers 126 Carrot Vegetable · Shoulder · 70 days
- Hollow Crown Parsnip Vegetable · Cool · 120 days
- Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
- California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
- Black Beauty Eggplant Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Hale's Best Jumbo Melon Vegetable · Warm · 85 days
- Golden Bantam Sweet Corn Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Provider Bush Bean Vegetable · Warm · 50 days
Related regional guides
- Utah Frost-Group Vegetable Garden A USU frost-group guide for Utah planting dates, city frost swings, protected-cover caveats, succession rows, and fall windows.
- Wasatch Front Vegetable Planting Dates USU Wasatch Front guide for city last-frost dates, hardy/tender planting groups, succession rows, and fall harvest windows.
- Washington County Utah Fall Vegetable Calendar USU Washington County fall guide for August direct-seed windows, September transplants, elevation shifts, frost caveats, and storage onions.
- Utah Vegetable Variety Recommendations USU archived Utah guide for variety selection, maturity/frost-free caveats, disease-resistance framing, planting chart, and conservative matches.