Garden Planner: Spring Planting Guide
Are you thinking about what you will plant this year? Whether it's early spring or late summer it always helps to have a detailed spring garden planner. Here are some great home and gardening tips for every color thumb.
If it's late winter, you may not be thinking about a garden planner just yet, but remember - you want to start seeds indoor 6-8 weeks before your last frost date for the best harvest! March is the perfect time to get those tomato and pepper seeds started indoors ready for an early spring planting! These are the easiest of all vegetables to grow, plus you can take advantage of those warmer days in early spring by spending time outside!
Start seeds indoor 6-8 weeks before your last frost date for the best harvest!
Download the garden planner below!
Step 1: Determine your last spring frost date
A frost date is the average date of the last light freeze that occurs in the spring. The possibility of frost occurring after the given spring dates is 50 percent. A frost is defined as a light freeze of temperatures ranging from 29 to 32 degrees farenheit.
According to the Old Farmer's Almanac, the classification of freeze temperatures is based on their effect on plants:
Light freeze: 29° to 32°F—tender plants are killed.
Moderate freeze: 25° to 28°F—widely destructive to most vegetation.
Severe freeze: 24°F and colder—heavy damage to most plants.
| Your Zone | Zone 10 | Zone 9 | Zone 8 | Zone 7 | Zone 6 | Zone 5 | Zone 4 | Zone 3 |
| Your Lowest Temp (F.) | 30° to 40° + | 20° to 30° | 10° to 20° | 0° to 10° | -10° to 0° | -20° to -10° | -30° to -20° | -40° to -30° |
| Your Last Frost Date (approx) |
February | Early March | Early April | Late April | Mid-May | Late May | Early June | Mid-June |
Map and zone information courtesy of Burpee.com.
Step 2: Follow these tips for an instant garden
- Cover planting beds with 2 inches of compost and plant directly into that.
- Plant the garden as close to kitchen as possible.
- Plant garden where it can get at least 6 hours of direct sunlight every day.
- Use transplants for slow-growing veggies like tomatoes.
- Hand water newly planted seeds and transplants until their roots grow into soil.
What will you be planting this spring/summer? I am hoping to try carrots, tomatoes, peppers and squash. I will need to make some raised garden beds, but with so many ideas out there I should be able to do it myself, right?
I am definitely going to check out the books below for more information.
Have you tested your soil pH? Make sure your soil is ready for a garden!
How to Test Your Soil pH.
Very-Hardy Plants
These plants can tolerate hard frosts – usually 25 to 28 degrees F.
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage
Collards*
English peas
Kale
Kohlrabi
Leeks
Mustard greens
Parsley
Radish
Spinach
Turnip
Semi-Hardy Vegetables:
These plants can tolerate light frosts – usually 29 to 32 degrees F.
Beets
Carrot
Cauliflower
Celery
Chinese cabbage
Endive
Irish potatoes
Lettuce and gourmet salad greens
Radicchio
Rutabaga
Salsify
Swiss chard*
After Frost Plants:
Beans
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Gourds
Melons
Okra
Peppers
Pumpkins
Southern peas
Summer squash
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes
Easiest plants for Beginners to Grow
If you are a beginner, like me, you probably want to start with easy plants! I am a perpetual beginner. I try and try and I just never really get the hang of it. But I still want to.
- Snap Peas
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Pumpkins
- Carrots
- Potatoes
Step 3: Calculate and plan planting dates
Scroll down to download the garden planner below to determine when to plant seeds or seedlings in your area according to the last frost.
Other posts like garden planner - spring planting guide
How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring
Home and Gardening Tips for Every Color Thumb
Gardening Activities for Kids
Linking up to Wonderful Wednesday
I'm in SW PA and can't wait to get started planting. Last year, we had to wait to Memorial Day. I'm hoping after the tough winter that it warms up quick and stays warm. Probably too much to ask!
It took about that long here in MA, too, last year! I did a lot of herbs outside last year but this year would like to graduate to container vegetables.
I would love to be a gardener and grow my own herbs and veggies, even just a small patch would be nice and helpful, I just have not had the motivation or time to really research it. Thanks for all the helpful tips.
Thank you very much for posting this. Have a lovely day. Spring is almost here. YAY!
Excellent post for novice gardeners 🙂 I'd be so pleased if you'd visit my new linky party on Mondays 🙂 Feel free to check it out here: http://superstinkyboys.blogspot.com/2017/03/support-your-fellow-crafter-linky-party_27.html
Thanks for sharing! I want to garden so bad but I kill everything. 🙁 I will be giving it another try though. lol
It is almost time to start work in the garden. I love spring and look forward to warm days ahead. Thanks for the helpful post and for sharing at DI&DI.
I am in that crazy zone 10 so we are coming to the end of our growing season. Soon the heat and intense sun will fry everything but this is a great idea to plan our next years plantings.
Hello! Thanks for sharing this post at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop. I'm getting ready to work out in our yard and garden soon, so this is a very helpful post. I will be featuring this post on my blog tomorrow, for my Tuesday Treasures post of a few of my favorites I've discovered from the blog hop. I'll link back here, of course, and would love to have you stop by and check out some of my other favorites. Hope to catch up with you this week at the blog hop! Sincerely, Nina @ Vintage Mama's Cottage
Our water table is back to a non severe drought but, we still have to watch how much water we use where we live. Love your post. I miss gardening. Maybe we can invest in drought tolerate plants and spruce up our backyard area. Seriously loved all the rain we got this year.
Thanks for sharing at the Inspiration Spotlight party. Pinned & sharing.
I can't wait for my garden to be providing me with delicious veggies and herbs! Thank you for sharing this with us at Funtastic Friday link party.
I wouldn't say that I have a green thumb either, but we've been throwing ourselves into it for the last 10 years and I do think that I'm doing better than I was in the beginning. Still I think we have more failures than successes, but we did get a ton of strawberries, asparagus, onions and raspberries last year... even if most everything else failed. 🙂 And there was a lot that went into the ground.
Still... with it being late winter, I've (finally) moved past the discouragement and have been making my big plans for this year's garden. The winter planning is the part I'm best at. 🙂 I even ordered all my spring seeds last night. 🙂 That planner looks very helpful! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Babychaser
mamasbrush.wordpress.com
Thanks babychaser! That harvest sounds amazing! I have high hopes every year but it doesn't always work out for me.
What an informative post! Pinned! Thank you for sharing on Merry Monday! Hope to see ya next week!
Kim
This has come at just the right time as I am starting to get the garden tidy for spring and summer #insparatiinspotlight@_karendennis
I would love to add veggies to my container garden but don't have much space on my balcony left. I just planted some lavender and flowers and hope to see some green from them soon! Found you via #homemattersparty. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the printable. I haven't even thought about planting yet, but I know I need to start making plans. Thank you for sharing with us on Party in Your PJ's.
Thanks for the great ideas! Now I can't wait until early April!
What a great planner for spring! Our off the grid homestead is in zone 5a/5b as well, (just over in Northwood, NH on Antique's Alley) and there are some great reminders in here! Cheers for sharing this on the blog hop!
Love this, unfortunately it says the link has been moved and I can't download. But the post has great info I saved, thanks for sharing!
HI Ariana - Which link has moved? The garden planner is available.
You make an important point about putting the garden as close to the kitchen as possible. If it is too far away, it's going to get neglected and you'll be less motivated to harvest fresh things for dinner. Thanks for the printable. It's really good.
Thanks Willow!