Vegetable Growing Guides for the USA

Vegetable growing guides for the United States, written by growing region. The country spans USDA zones 3 to 10 and seasons from under 100 days to effectively year-round, so a single national sowing date means nothing. Each guide gives the conditions the crop needs, then the timing for your band — so you plant from your own frost dates rather than an average.

Find your growing band

Cold band: The binding constraint is season length. Anything with a long days-to-maturity figure has to be started indoors or skipped. Mild band: Long enough for two full cycles of most cool-season crops, with a warm-season crop between them. Hot band: Summer heat, not winter cold, is the limiting season. Cool-season crops run in fall, winter and early spring; midsummer is the gap.

Choose crops that fit the season you have

Most American planting advice assumes the only question is whether a crop will survive your winter. For an annual vegetable that is the wrong question entirely — almost none of them are alive in January. What decides your harvest is whether the crop can complete its cycle inside the frost-free window you actually have, and whether it can tolerate what your summer does to it.

That means the crop-choosing rule is different in each band:

Two figures do most of the work. Days to maturity tells you whether a crop finishes: take the packet figure, add two to three weeks because catalogue numbers assume ideal conditions, and count forward from your realistic planting date. Heat tolerance tells you whether it survives the middle of your season: tomato pollen loses viability above about 85 °F day and 70 °F night, which is precisely why tomatoes stop setting fruit in a Gulf Coast July however healthy the plant looks.

Every guide below carries both numbers for its crop.

Growing guides (20 crops)

New to growing? Start here

These forgive a late sowing, patchy watering or a first attempt at spacing. Get three or four of these right before you commit a whole bed to anything trickier.

• Radishes — Ready in under a month, so a failed sowing costs you nothing but a few weeks.
• Lettuce — Shallow roots and quick results make it the easiest thing to get right on a first attempt — sow little and often rather than one big row.
• Spinach — Forgiving in cool weather; the main skill is timing it to avoid the heat that makes it bolt and turn bitter.
• Peas — Sown direct, needs almost nothing from you beyond support to climb — a genuinely low-effort crop for a beginner bed.
• Beets — Roots and greens from one sowing, and slow enough to forgive an inconsistent start.
• Bush beans — No staking, no fuss — sow after the soil has warmed and they largely look after themselves.
• Green onions — Sow direct, cut as you need them, sow again — about as low-commitment as a crop gets.
• Fava beans — Hardy enough to overwinter in mild areas, and they leave the soil better than they found it.

The reliable core of the plot

Once you've got a season behind you, most of a productive plot is built from crops in this group — well understood, forgiving of an average year, and worth the space every time.

• Tomatoes — The crop most gardens are built around. Needs consistent watering and the right transplant timing, but the reward is worth learning both.
• Potatoes — Plant, hill twice, harvest — one of the highest-yield uses of bed space for the effort involved.
• Onions — Slow and unglamorous, but a genuinely reliable crop once you've got the sowing-to-transplant timing sorted.
• Carrots — Needs loose, stone-free soil more than it needs skill — get the bed right and the crop mostly follows.
• Cabbage — A staple brassica; rotate it properly and it's dependable across most of a normal season.
• Zucchini — One or two plants will outproduce most households — the main skill is knowing when to stop harvesting oversized fruit.
• Cucumbers — Wants warmth and steady moisture; give it both and it's one of the most productive crops per square foot you can grow.
• Leeks — Slow but dependable, and they stand in the ground through winter until you want them.
• Shallots — Planted as sets like onions, but each one splits into a cluster — low effort once they're in.

Crops that ask more of you

Get the timing and conditions right and these are the most satisfying things you'll grow. Get them wrong and they sulk, stall or fail outright — there's very little room in between.

• Bell peppers — Needs real sustained warmth to set fruit well — get the transplant timing right and they reward you for the whole season.
• Eggplant — Slow to get going and fussy about heat, but there's little else that produces like it once established.
• Sweet corn — Needs a block planting for reliable pollination, not a single row — get that right and the rest is straightforward.
• Broccoli — A narrow window between cold enough to head up and warm enough to bolt — time it well and it's genuinely rewarding.
• Kale — The most cold-hardy common brassica, and it actually improves after frost — worth the bed space through winter when little else is standing.
• Cauliflower — The trickiest common brassica — firm soil and even moisture decide whether you get a curd at all.
• Celery — Thirsty and slow, and it wants trenching — most gardeners either love growing it or skip it.
• Grain amaranth — An unusual grain crop for anyone with space to experiment — sow warm, harvest the seed heads in autumn.
• Love-lies-bleeding amaranth — The ornamental cousin of grain amaranth, grown as much for the trailing flowers as the edible leaves.
• Brussels sprouts — Slow and space-hungry, but the flavour genuinely improves after the first hard frost.

Plant once, harvest much later

These don't run on a normal sowing-to-harvest rhythm. Plant them, do very little for months, and the payoff arrives on its own schedule — sometimes not until next year.

• Garlic — Planted in autumn, left almost entirely alone, lifted the following summer — about as close to a set-and-forget crop as vegetable growing gets.
• Sweet potatoes — A full warm season from slip to harvest, with almost no attention required in between.
• Strawberries — Plant a bed once and it crops every summer for three or four years before it needs renewing.
• Elephant garlic — A leek relative with garlic-sized ambitions — plant like garlic, but give the giant cloves real room.
• Squash — A long season from sowing to a storage-ready fruit — but a cured squash keeps for months.
• Pumpkins — Wants space and feeding more than skill; the reward is sized by how much room you give it.

Month by month

• What to plant in January USA
• What to plant in February USA
• What to plant in March USA
• What to plant in April USA
• What to plant in May USA
• What to plant in June USA
• What to plant in July USA
• What to plant in August USA
• What to plant in September USA
• What to plant in October USA
• What to plant in November USA
• What to plant in December USA

Just need the timing?

• When to plant tomatoes in the USA — sowing and planting-out windows on their own
• When to plant bush beans in the USA — sowing and planting-out windows on their own
• When to plant bell peppers in the USA — sowing and planting-out windows on their own

Where gardeners lose a season

Across the whole country the same handful of decisions account for most disappointing years, and all of them happen before midsummer.

Notice what these have in common: not one is a pest or a disease. They are timing and sequencing decisions, made weeks earlier, whose consequences only become visible when it is too late to change them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know which US growing band I am in?

Look up your USDA hardiness zone, then find your local average last spring and first fall frost dates. Zones 3-5 are the cold band, 6-7 the mild band, and 8-10 the hot band.

Does my USDA zone tell me when to plant?

No. Hardiness zones describe average winter minimum temperature, which tells you what survives your winter, not how long your growing season is. Use the zone to look up your frost dates, then time planting from those.

How many crops do these guides cover?

20 vegetables, each with frost-relative timing, soil and spacing requirements, watering guidance and the problems most likely in US gardens.

Last updated 25 August 2026

Every USA growing guide, by plant family

Every one of our 293 USA vegetable growing guides, grouped by plant family — the same grouping the Garden Layout Planner uses, because plant family is what decides where a crop can go in your crop rotation. Open a family to see its crops, or search below.

Free Garden Layout Planner →Once you have picked your crops, drop them into the planner and it works out spacing, bed layout and crop rotation for you.USA Printable Garden Planner (PDF) →A printable planner built around your frost dates rather than a fixed calendar, so the sowing windows in these guides land on the right weeks for your zone.How the USA Planner Works →Zones, states and the printable PDF explained in plain language.

Search USA growing guides

The onion family24 guidesGarlic, leeks, shallots and every onion relative. Slow, hardy, and worth a long rotation — white rot lingers in soil for years.

• Babington's Leeks
• Broadleaf Wild Leeks
• Calçots— biennial, harvested as second-year resprouts
• Chives
• Elephant Garlic
• Garlic— perennial (cultivated as a winter annual)
• Garlic Chives
• Golden Garlic
• Great Yellow Allium
• Green Onions— Grown as a fast annual salad crop
• Keel-leaved Garlic
• Kurrat
• Leeks— Hardy biennial grown as an annual
• Nodding Onions
• Onions
• Pearl Onions
• Potato Onions
• Ramsons
• Rocambole— herbaceous perennial, grown as an annual crop
• Sand Leeks
• Shallots— Hardy biennial grown as an annual
• Three-cornered Leeks
• Tree Onions
• Welsh Onions

Brassicas & mustards43 guidesCabbages, kales and their peppery cousins from radish to horseradish. Net them against cabbage white and keep them moving around the plot.

• Arugula
• Black Radishes
• Broccoli
• Broccolini
• Brussels SproutsIn the US, brussels sprouts planted out early August to late August, and are ready to harves
• Cabbage
• Cauliflower
• Chinese Cabbages
• Choi Sums
• Collard Greens
• Daikons
• Horseradishes
• Kailans
• Kale— biennial for most varieties, cropping
• Kohlrabis
• Komatsunas
• Lacinato Kale— biennial grown as an annual, or true biennial for winter harvesting
• Land Cresses
• Marrowstem Kale
• Mibunas
• Mizunas— biennial, harvested in its first year as a fast-growing compact plant
• Mustard Greens
• Nine Star Perennial Broccoli— herbaceous perennial, cropping for 3-4 years before decline
• Pak Choi— annual/biennial, grown as annual
• Pointed Cabbages
• Radishes
• Rat-tailed Radish
• Red Cabbages
• Red Russian Kale
• Romanesco Broccoli
• Rutabaga
• Savoy Cabbages
• Shepherd's Purses
• Siberian Kale
• Sprouting Broccoli— biennial grown as an annual, or true biennial for overwintering purple sprouting types
• Tatsois
• Thousandhead Kale
• Tree Collards— perennial or partial perennial, living several years
• Turnipsready in 42–70 days
• Wasabis
• White Mustards
• Wild Rockets
• Winter Cresses

Peas & beans32 guidesNitrogen-fixers that leave the soil better than they found it. Follow them with a hungry brassica.

• Adzuki Beans— Frost-tender annual, though the least
• African Locust Beans
• Bambara Groundnuts
• Bush BeansYour own frost dates rather than the calendar — the average last
• Chickpeas
• Cluster Beans
• Cowpeas— Frost-tender annual or short-lived perennial
• Crimson Clovers— PFAF corroborates independently
• Edamame (Soybean)6+ hours of sun, soil pH 6–7
• Edible Lupins— Annual/biennial nitrogen-fixing legume
• Fava Beans6+ hours of sun
• Green Beans
• Hyacinth Beans— Perennial climber, usually grown
• Ice-cream Beans— Evergreen tropical tree, fruiting from about two years old
• Jicamas— Frost-tender perennial vine grown as an annual
• Lentilsready in 90–90 days
• Lima Beans
• Lucernes
• Mangetouts— Annual, climbing by tendrils, deciduous foliage (RHS)
• Moth Beans
• Mung Beans
• Peanutsready in 90–150 days
• Pearl Lupins
• Peas
• Pigeon Peas— Erect annual or short-lived perennial, usually grown as an annual
• Red Clovers
• Rice Beans
• Runner Beans
• Tamarinds— Long-lived evergreen tree, bearing fruit from seven to ten years old
• Urd Beans— Frost-tender annual, intolerant of frost and
• Winged Beans— Perennial climbing or twining herb, usually grown as a frost-tender annual
• Yardlong Beans

The potato & tomato family14 guidesHungry, blight-prone and best kept together so you can rotate them hard — potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, aubergines.

• Ashwagandha
• Chilli Peppers— short-lived perennial (grown as annual)
• Eggplant
• Ground Cherries— Annual, low, sprawling herbaceous plant
• Habanero Chillies— Annual or short-lived perennial grown
• Naranjilla— Tender, fast-growing shrubby perennial, nearly 2m tall (Purdue NewCROP)
• Pepino Dulce
• Peppers
• PotatoesPlant potatoes once the soil can be worked and your last hard frost has passed — timing foll
• Rocoto Peppers
• Tamarillos— Fast-growing, tender, woody evergreen
• Tomatillos
• Tomatoes
• Wonderberries— Grown as an annual outside the tropics

Roots & tubers28 guidesEverything you dig rather than pick. Most want stone-free, unmanured ground and steady moisture.

• Beets
• Burdock (Gobo)
• Carrots
• Celeriacs— annual/biennial, grown as annual
• Chinese Artichokes
• Fennel— cool-season annual (Florence
• Hamburg Parsley
• Jerusalem Artichokes
• Macas— biennial (grown as an annual for its root)
• Mangelwurzels
• Mashuas— Tuberous, climbing perennial
• Ocas— Tuberous, short-day perennial grown as an annual crop
• Parsley
• Parsnipsready in 100–120 days
• Perpetual Spinach
• Pignuts
• Salsify6+ hours of sun, soil pH 6.5–7.5
• Scorzonera
• Sea Beets
• Skirret
• Sugar Beets
• Sweet Fennel
• Sweet PotatoesIn the US, sweet potatoes planted out early February to late February, and are ready to harv
• Swiss Chard— biennial (requires two growing seasons, but
• Taros— Tuberous, evergreen perennial
• Ullucos— Tender tuberous perennial grown as an annual
• Water Chestnuts
• Yacons

Leaves & salads27 guidesCut-and-come-again crops that reward little and often sowing — the fastest return in the garden.

• Blood Amaranth
• Callaloos
• Celeryready in 70–84 days
• Chicories
• Chinese Celery
• Corn Salad (Lamb's Lettuce)Are ready to harvest 14–21 days after planting
• Dandelions— Evergreen herbaceous perennial
• Endivesready in 70–100 days
• Epazotes— perennial in warm climates, grown as an annual elsewhere
• French Sorrels— Low-growing, mat-forming herbaceous perennial
• Good King Henry
• Huauzontles
• Ice Plants
• Kaniwa— Annual, and notably frost-tolerant for
• Lettuce
• Love-Lies-Bleeding Amaranth
• Malabar Spinach— RHS rates it H1C (5-10°C minimum), needing very warm conditions
• New Zealand Spinach— Herbaceous, highly branched, sprawling perennial grown as a summer annual
• Oraches
• Purslanes6+ hours of sun
• Shungikus
• Sorrel
• Spinach
• Strawberry Blites
• Water Spinach
• Watercress
• Winter Purslane (Miner's Lettuce)(Claytonia perfoliata) — annual

Squashes & cucumbers15 guidesSprawling, thirsty and frost-tender. Give them room, warmth and more compost than you think.

• Achochas— annual (grown as, perennial in native range)
• Ash Gourds
• Bitter Melons
• Bottle Gourds
• Chayotes
• Cucamelons
• CucumbersIn the US, cucumbers go in the ground early February to late February, and are ready to harv
• Egusi Melons— Perennial in habit but grown
• Loofahs
• Melons
• Pumpkins— tender plants requiring a long, hot growing
• Shark Fin Melons— RHS treats it as an annual climbing/trailing squash
• SquashIn the US, squash go in the ground early February to late February, and are ready to harvest
• Watermelons
• Zucchini

Herbs & aromatics51 guidesKitchen herbs, from a windowsill pot of basil to a permanent bay. Most prefer poorer soil and sharper drainage than you would guess.

• Alexanders
• Angelicas
• Bay Laurels— Evergreen shrub or small tree
• Bergamots— Clump-forming herbaceous perennial
• Borage
• Calendulas— Hardy annual (RHS also lists a biennial habit)
• Capers
• Caraways
• Cardamoms— Evergreen rhizomatous perennial
• Chamomiles
• Chervils
• CilantrosAre ready to harvest 70–70 days after planting
• Costmary— Woody-based, rhizomatous herbaceous perennial (RHS
• Cumins
• Dillready in 42–42 days
• Fenugreeks
• Galangals
• Gingers
• Heartseases— Tufted annual, biennial or short-lived evergreen perennial with small tri-coloured flowers
• Herb Fennel
• Holy Basil— Small, upright, bushy annual (in temperate climates) with highly aromatic, serrated, purpl
• Hyssops— Herbaceous perennial or evergreen sub-shrub with linear, aromatic leaves and spikes of tub
• Lemon Balms— Vigorous, clump-forming perennial herb in the mint family, lemon-scented
• Lemon Thyme— Compact, bushy, mounding evergreen sub-shrub
• Lemongrass— Clump-forming, tender perennial grass
• Lovages
• Marjoram— Tender perennial sub-shrub, usually grown as an annual in cooler climates
• Mitsuba
• Mugwort— Upright, rhizomatous herbaceous perennial
• Myoga Gingers— Aromatic rhizomatous perennial
• Nasturtiums
• Oregano
• Peppermint— Vigorous, rhizomatous, spreading perennial herb
• Rosemary
• Saffron Crocuses— Autumn-flowering perennial corm
• Sage
• Salad Burnet
• Sea Hollies
• Shisos— Bushy, upright annual with toothed, aromatic, often red or purple leaves and insignificant
• Signet Marigolds— Annual, USDA zones 2-11, UK hardiness zone 3 (PFAF)
• Spearmint
• Stevia— Tender perennial usually grown as a half-hardy annual
• Summer Savories— Bushy hardy annual -- genuinely distinct from the perennial Winter Savory (Satureja montan
• Sweet Basil
• Sweet Cicely
• Szechuan Peppers— Bushy, spiny, deciduous shrub or small tree
• Tarragon
• Thyme
• Turmerics
• Valerians— Cut back to ground level in autumn
• Winter Savories— Dwarf, sub-shrubby, hardy perennial -- genuinely distinct from the annual Summer Savory (S

Fruit & berries34 guidesTrees, canes and bushes that crop for years once established — the longest-term planting decisions you will make.

• Alpine Strawberries— Herbaceous perennial, semi-evergreen
• Apples
• Apricots— Deciduous tree, self-fertile -- only one tree needed for a crop (RHS), though USU Extensio
• Aronias— Small, deciduous, bushy, spreading shrub with glossy dark-green leaves that colour red
• Black Mulberries— Deciduous tree, dioecious or monoecious depending on source population -- Growables.com
• Blackberries
• Blackcurrants
• Blueberries
• Cape Gooseberries
• Cranberries
• Damsons— Deciduous tree, 10-20 years to full maturity
• Figs— Deciduous shrub or small tree
• Goji Berries6+ hours of sun, soil pH 5.5–8
• Gooseberries
• Grapes
• Honeyberries— Very hardy deciduous shrub, a form of edible honeysuckle
• Japanese Wineberries— Deciduous perennial shrub with biennial canes -- roots are perennial, canes fruit in their
• Jostaberries— Deciduous shrub, self-fertile -- RHS confirms self-fertile bushes crop well, with more fru
• Kiwi Fruits— Vigorous, deciduous, woody climber
• Lingonberries
• Loganberries— Deciduous shrub with biennial canes -- each cane grows vegetatively in its first year, fru
• Medlars— Deciduous tree, self-fertile and bee-pollinated -- only one tree is needed for a crop (RHS
• Nectarines— Deciduous fruit tree, self-fertile
• Peaches
• Pears
• Plums— Deciduous tree, 5-10 years to full maturity
• Quinces
• Raspberries
• Redcurrants
• Sea Buckthorns— Deciduous, thorny, dioecious shrub or small tree with narrow, silvery leaves and inconspic
• Sour Cherries— Deciduous tree, self-fertile -- only one tree is needed for a crop (RHS
• Strawberries
• Sweet Cherries
• Tayberries— Deciduous shrub with biennial canes, often thornless or lightly prickled (RHS

Nuts5 guidesLong-lived trees for patient growers. Plan for the eventual canopy, not the sapling.

• Almonds— Deciduous stone-fruit tree, a close cousin of peaches and nectarines but less cold-hardy (
• Hazelnuts— Deciduous, monoecious shrub or small tree bearing separate male catkins and female flowers
• Pine Nuts
• Sweet Chestnuts— Large, vigorous, long-lived deciduous tree
• Walnuts

Grains & pseudo-grains9 guidesCereals, oilseeds and seed crops — practical at allotment scale for green manure, straw and a novelty harvest.

• Buckwheat— Fast-growing, half-hardy annual broadleaf, not a true cereal but often called a pseudocere
• Grain Amaranth
• Oats
• Quinoa
• Rye
• Safflowers
• Sesame
• Sweet Cornready in 80–95 days
• Wheat

Plant once, harvest for years9 guidesCrops that stay put. Prepare the ground properly before planting, because you will not get another chance.

• Asparagus
• Cardoons
• Daylilies— Herbaceous, clump-forming perennial
• Globe Artichokes
• Hostas— Herbaceous, clump-forming perennial
• Moso Bamboos— Evergreen, running-rhizome bamboo
• Ostrich Ferns— Deciduous, stoloniferous fern
• Rhubarb
• Sea Kale

More crops to try2 guidesThe rest of the collection — unusual, ornamental-edible and specialist crops.

• Okras
• Sunflowers6+ hours of sun, soil pH 6–7.5

Planning tools & reference13 pagesThe calendars, planners and problem-solving guides that sit alongside the crop guides.

• Vegetable Planting Calendar
• What to Plant in April
• What to Plant in August
• What to Plant in December
• What to Plant in February
• What to Plant in January
• What to Plant in July
• What to Plant in June
• What to Plant in March
• What to Plant in May
• What to Plant in November
• What to Plant in October
• What to Plant in September