Search this Site


Vegetable Planting Guide
For Home Gardeners


Page Contents

     Vegetable Planting Guide

The Vegetable Garden Planting Guide That Helps To Keep Planting On Track

Vegetable Planting Guide


Working out when to plant seeds and seedlings can be one of the most difficult tasks when planning the home vegetable garden. Timing is very important and is one of the main factors that will impact on the final outcome.

Even the biggest and strongest seedling will succumb to the elements if planted at the wrong time.

With the help of the cool season vegetables and the warm season vegetables lists it should become a little clearer on the order and right season seeds and seedling can be planted in the garden.

Once it is understood that there is a right and wrong time to plant certain vegetables then the rest will fall into place easily and growing better vegetables becomes a breeze.

A valuable piece of information for gardeners to know is the date of the last frost in the spring and the first killing frost in the fall. This will help you to plan your vegetable garden plantings

So, when is the right time to plant vegetables? Check out the table below.


Planting Order Guide


The vegetable planting guide sets out in planting order the 4 groups allowing you to see at a glance what and when to plant in the garden.

Follow this link for a printer friendly pdf version of this vegetable planting guide to help you find the best sowing and transplanting dates.



1st Group To Plant - Frost Hardy Cool Season Vegetables.


Soil temperature need to be 40 F (4 C) or above and rising. As a rough guide you can plan to plant these vegetables as soon as 2-4 weeks before the average date of the last 32 F (0 C) freeze in the spring in your area but use soil temperature as your actual planting time.


Planting Order Guide - Cool Season Hardy
Vegetable Best Method Vegetable Best Method
Brussel SproutsSeedling Onions Sets
CabbageSeedlingParsnipsDirect sow
CollardSeedlingPeas Direct sow
GarlicClovesRadicchio Seedling
HorseradishRoot cuttingsRadish Direct sow
KaleSeedling Rutabaga Direct sow
Kohlrabi SeedlingSpinachDirect sow
LeekSeedling Swiss Chard Seedling
Mustard GreensDirect sow TurnipsDirect sow




2nd Group To Plant - Semi-Frost Hardy Cool Season Vegetables

Soil temperature need to be 50 F (10 C) or above and rising. As a rough guide you can plan to plant these vegetables as early as 1-2 weeks before the average date of the last 32 F (0 C) freeze in the spring in your area but use soil temperature as your actual planting time.


Planting Order Guide - Cool Season Semi Hardy
Vegetable Best Method Vegetable Best Method
ArugulaDirect sowCeleriacSeedling
AsparagusCrowns CelerySeedling
BeetsDirect sowEndive Direct sow
BroccoliSeedlingJerusalem ArtichokeTubers
Cabbage ChineseSeed and SeedlingLettuce Seedling
CarrotsDirect sowPotatoes Tuber
CauliflowerSeedling




3rd Group To Plant - Frost Tender Warm Season Vegetables.

Soil temperature need to be 60 F (16 C) or above and rising. As a rough guide don’t plan to plant these vegetables until at least 1-2 weeks after the last average 32 F (0 C) freeze in your area but use soil temperature as your actual planting time.


Planting Order Guide - Warm Season Tender
Vegetable Best Method Vegetable Best Method
Beans Direct sow Spinach NZSeedling
Okra Direct sow Squash Winter Direct sow
Peppers SeedlingSweet Corn Direct sow
Pumpkin Direct sowTomatoes Seedling
Southern PeaDirect sow




4th Group To Plant - Very Frost Tender Warm Season Vegetables.


Soil temperature need to be 70 F (21 C) or above and rising. As a rough guide don’t plan to plant these vegetables until at least 2-3 weeks after the last average 32 F (0 C) freeze in your area but use soil temperature as your actual planting time.


Planting Order Guide - Warm Season Very Tender
Vegetable Best Method Vegetable Best Method
Cucumber Direct sowSquash SummerDirect sow
Eggplant Seedling Sweet PotatoSlips
Melons Direct sow



related pages







Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.


Home Page - Site Map - Top of Vegetable Planting Guide Page - Return to Vegetable Garden Planting Page