Planning tool
Planting Calendar Tool
Calculate indoor seed-starting, direct-sow, transplant, fall sowing, succession, and harvest windows from local frost dates and catalog timing data.
Default calendar jobs first
For the default Apr 15 last frost and Oct 15 first frost plan, show dated jobs before regional presets or manual frost-date fields.
Season runway
- 1 Aug 1 Repeat sow Provider Bush Bean
- 2 Aug 1 Last catalog-maturity sowing estimate for California Giant Zinnia
- 3 Aug 1 Last catalog-maturity sowing estimate for Sensation Mix Cosmos
- 4 Aug 2 First likely winter squash harvest
- Spring startApr 15
- Next jobAug 1 · Repeat sow Provider Bush Bean
- Fall stopOct 15 frost · last shown Aug 2
- Repeat sow Provider Bush Bean Aug 1 · Provider Bush Bean
- Last catalog-maturity sowing estimate for California Giant Zinnia Aug 1 · California Giant Zinnia
- Last catalog-maturity sowing estimate for Sensation Mix Cosmos Aug 1 · Sensation Mix Cosmos
- First likely winter squash harvest Aug 2 · Waltham Butternut Squash
Inputs
- Regional dates first
- Use source-backed regional presets before manually editing frost dates when a selected guide publishes exact dates.
- Manual frost-date editing
- Keep last-frost and first-frost fields available for gardeners with local records, microclimate notes, or no exact regional preset.
- Last frost date
- Anchors indoor starts, direct sowing, transplant windows, and warm-season timing.
- First frost date
- Anchors fall planting windows and late-season crop risk.
- Regional date preset
- Hydrated calendar users can apply source-backed regional defaults when a guide publishes exact first and last frost dates.
- Seed catalog filters
- Limits the calendar to the crops, herbs, flowers, cover crops, or natives in the current plan.
What it returns
- Seed-starting tasks with weeks-before-frost timing.
- Direct-sow and transplant task dates for matching catalog entries.
- Fall planting tasks and harvest estimates where catalog data supports them.
Regional frost-date fallback
- Regional Planting Guides Use regional date presets or guide crop rows to replace generic frost dates; 111 source-backed regional guides cover All 50 U.S. states.
- USDA Zone and Frost-Date Planner Keep hardiness zones separate from first-frost and last-frost calendar inputs
Calendar-ready seed paths
- Full Seed Catalog 103 source-backed varieties
- Fall Planting Planner 63 first-frost-window varieties
- Succession Sowing Planner 44 repeat-sowing varieties
- Quick Harvest Garden Planner 34 60-day-or-faster varieties
- Direct Sow Garden Planner 85 direct-sow-capable varieties
- Seed-Starting Planner 50 indoor-start varieties
- Cool Season Garden Planner 38 cool-season varieties
- Cool Season Seeds Early spring and fall candidates
- Warm Season Garden Planner 55 warm-season varieties
- Warm Season Seeds Frost-sensitive summer crops
- Vegetable Garden Planner 44 vegetable varieties
- Herb Garden Planner 16 herb varieties
- Flower Garden Planner 18 flower varieties
- Native Plant Garden Planner 14 native varieties
- Cover Crop Garden Planner 11 cover crop varieties
- Succession Sowing Seeds 44 repeat-sowing varieties
- Fall-Planting Seeds 63 first-frost-window varieties
Fast succession examples
- French Breakfast Radish Repeat every 7 days
- Astro Arugula Repeat every 10 days
- Bloomsdale Spinach Repeat every 10 days
- Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Repeat every 14 days
- Southern Giant Curled Mustard Repeat every 14 days
- White Stem Bok Choy Repeat every 14 days
Source basis
- UMN planting the vegetable garden Outdoor planting and frost-window reference
- CSU vegetable planting guide Crop timing and season-window reference
- UMN starting seeds indoors Indoor seed-starting timing reference