Zone 7 Planting Calendar

USDA Zone 7 is a long four-season growing zone, with roughly 195 to 230 days between frosts and winter lows around 0 to 10F. Summer here is warm enough for okra and melons, but the back half of the year is what really defines gardening in Zone 7: a fall window wide enough to bring a second crop of brassicas, roots, and greens to full size, and winters mild enough that kale, spinach, and garlic can sit in the ground under mulch until spring. This Zone 7 planting calendar covers the month-by-month schedule, the crops that pay you back for the space, and how to pin down your own local frost dates.

Zone 7 at a glance

Zone 7 planting calendar

Here is what to plant in each month in Zone 7. "Start indoors" means sowing seeds under lights or on a warm windowsill several weeks before they go outside. "Transplant / plant out" is when those seedlings, or hardy young plants, go into the garden. "Direct sow" is seed you put straight into the ground. Use this as a Zone 7 planting schedule and adjust by a week or two to match your own last and first frost dates.

Zone 7 planting schedule at a glance

The Zone 7 year runs long, and it runs in three waves. You start seeds indoors for onions and leeks in January and for tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant in February, then set the tender crops out once the early-April frost has passed. Direct sowing of beans, corn, cucumbers, and squash carries through May and June, and the main harvest runs from late June until frost arrives in late October or early November. The third wave is the fall sowing window, and it is the one most gardeners underuse: brassicas started in July, greens and roots seeded in August and September, then garlic and overwintering spinach going in through October and November.

Month	Start indoors	Transplant / plant out	Direct sow outdoors	Harvest
January	Onions, leeks, celery, lettuce, early brassicas (under lights)	-	Peas, spinach, radish under cover late month	Overwintered kale, collards, spinach, carrots
February	Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce	Onions, hardened brassicas late month	Peas, spinach, radish, arugula, lettuce	Overwintered greens, mache, cold-frame lettuce
March	Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, cucumbers late month	Broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, onions, potatoes	Carrots, beets, peas, radish, chard, potatoes	Spring radish, arugula, early lettuce, spinach
April	Melons, cucumbers, squash, okra, basil	Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant after early-April frost	Beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, carrots, beets	Lettuce, spinach, peas, radish, green onions
May	Second okra, sweet potato, melon starts	Warm-season transplants, sweet potato slips	Beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, okra, southern peas	Peas, lettuce, spinach, garlic scapes, early squash
June	Fall tomatoes late month	Sweet potato slips, warm-season stragglers	Beans, corn, okra, cucumbers, summer squash, basil	Cucumbers, zucchini, early tomatoes, beans, garlic
July	Fall tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, kale	Fall tomato transplants late month	Beans, corn, cucumbers, fall squash, southern peas	Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, beans, corn, melons
August	Fall broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, kale	Fall brassica and tomato transplants	Beans, carrots, beets, fall lettuce, spinach late	Tomatoes, peppers, okra, beans, cucumbers, melons
September	Lettuce, spinach for late fall	Fall brassicas, lettuce, kale	Spinach, lettuce, radish, turnips, kale, peas, carrots	Tomatoes, peppers, okra, winter squash, beans
October	Windowsill herbs	Garlic prep; cool-season transplants early	Spinach, lettuce, radish, arugula, mache, garlic	Peppers, sweet potatoes, winter squash, fall greens
November	-	Garlic cloves for next year	Garlic, spinach, mache to overwinter; cover crops	Broccoli, cabbage, carrots, kale, collards, chard
December	Onions, early lettuce late month	-	Mulch garlic; plan beds	Kale, collards, carrots, leeks, cold-frame greens

Nudge the whole schedule earlier if you are at the warm edge of Zone 7 (or use season extenders like row cover and cold frames), and a little later if you are at the cold, high-elevation edge.

The best crops for Zone 7

Zone 7's long season means you can grow almost anything, from quick spring greens to long-season heat lovers. These are the crops that reward you most here, each linked to the matching seed collection:

Cool-season crops for spring and fall

Zone 7's cool shoulder seasons are ideal for leafy and root crops. Sow lettuce, spinach, kale, peas, and carrots in early spring, then plant a second round in late summer for a fall harvest that often tastes sweeter after light frost.

That fall round is where Zone 7 pulls ahead of colder zones. Sown in late summer, radish, beets, chard, broccoli, and cabbage all have time to size up before the first frost, and most of them hold in the garden well past it.

Warm-season crops for summer

The long, warm summers here are made for tomatoes and tomatillos, peppers, beans, cucumbers, and squash. Start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant indoors and set them out once the danger of frost has passed. For the easiest way to cover a whole summer bed, a mixed vegetable variety pack gives you many of these at once.

Heat lovers get a full run in Zone 7. Cucumbers, summer squash, and okra keep producing into September, and there is enough season left after the midsummer peak to sow a second planting of bush beans and cucumbers in July for a fall picking.

Herbs and flowers

Most culinary herbs thrive through the Zone 7 summer, and hardy perennials like thyme, oregano, chives, and mint come back year after year. Interplant flowers to bring in pollinators and keep the whole garden productive.

When are the frost dates in Zone 7?

Your last spring frost is the average date after which a hard frost is unlikely, so it is your green light for setting out tender crops like tomatoes and peppers. Your first fall frost is the average date in autumn when frost typically returns, which sets the deadline for your last harvest and for fall crops to mature. In Zone 7, the last frost usually lands around early to mid-April and the first fall frost around early November, but these shift by weeks depending on exactly where you live.

Because a single zone can span very different microclimates, do not rely on a single date. Enter your ZIP code in our interactive planting calendar to get your exact local last and first frost dates and a sowing schedule built around them. That is the most reliable way to time your Zone 7 garden.

Zone 7a vs 7b: last and first frost dates

Zone 7 is split into two half-zones, 7a and 7b, and they differ by about 5F in average winter low. That gap sounds small, but it shows up at both ends of the season: 7b is the milder half, so it warms up sooner in spring, holds off frost longer in fall, and ends up with a growing season a couple of weeks longer than 7a. If you are in 7a you are working with a season of roughly 195 to 210 days; in 7b it is closer to 215 to 230.

Local conditions still move these dates by weeks. A low spot that collects cold air, a ridge, or a few hundred feet of elevation can put you behind a neighbor in the same half-zone, while a city lot or a site near a large body of water often runs ahead. Either way, the rule of thumb holds: in Zone 7 you start seeds indoors for tomatoes and peppers about 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost, which for most gardeners here means sowing in February and transplanting in April.

Subzone	Average last spring frost	Average first fall frost	Growing season
Zone 7a	Early to mid April (about April 5 to 15)	Late October to early November (about Oct 25 to Nov 5)	About 195 to 210 days
Zone 7b	Late March to early April (about March 25 to April 5)	Early to mid November (about Nov 5 to 15)	About 215 to 230 days

What does USDA Zone 7 mean?

USDA hardiness zones are based on the average coldest winter temperature in an area. Zone 7 means winter lows typically bottom out around 0 to 10F. That number tells you which perennials, shrubs, and trees can survive your winter, so it is mainly a measure of winter hardiness. It does not directly tell you your frost dates or how long your growing season is, which is why annual vegetable timing depends on the last and first frost dates above rather than the zone number alone.

Not sure this is your zone?

If your winters feel colder or milder than the ranges above, you may be in a neighboring zone. Colder gardeners should check the Zone 6 planting calendar, and warmer gardeners the Zone 8 planting calendar. When in doubt, look up your zone and exact frost dates with your ZIP code in the planting calendar tool.