Month by Month Vegetable Garden Planting Guide
Do you ever wonder when in the world to plant your vegetables? I’m here to help with my vegetable garden planting guide. My Little Sprouts and I try our hardest to grow as much of our own food as possible. We like a wide variety of food, so we plant a wide variety of food. It’s hard to keep track of what to plant each month, so here is a guide to what you grow when.
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We live in Oklahoma in Zone 7a, so you may have to check the USDA planting zones and see where your planting zone may differ. Click here to check it out. In most cases, you can just use the same list, but adjust it a few weeks one way or the other to find your optimal planting times.
For links to free garden seed catalogs you can shop from, click here.
Do you want to garden, but you don’t know how? Click here.
If you are north, you will need to do things a few weeks later, and if you are south, you will need to do things a few weeks earlier. If you live in Oklahoma you can check out OSU extension for all of the recommended planting times. Click here to go to their website.
You can find a vegetable garden planting guide to the best times to plant at your local extension office. This guide should also let you know what your last average frost date would be. Gardeners have to pay close attention to the weather. The weather guides what we do.
Month by Month Vegetable Garden Planting Guide
We like to practice succession planting, or planting things every few weeks to spread out our harvest and have a continuous supply throughout the growing season. Our average last frost date is April 15, so if you find yours, you can adjust your planting times according to how many weeks away from ours it is. This is average, so remember, anything can happen. We had a freeze in the middle of May one gardening year. You never know!
Each plant has its own optimal time to go in the ground. That’s why we need a vegetable garden planting guide. Some plants do better when direct seeded into the ground, and some do better when they are grown indoors until they develop into good sized seedlings and planted outside as plants.
Vegetable planting chart
Corn and cucurbits, which include cucumbers, melons, and squashes prefer not to have their roots disturbed and don’t transplant well so you want to direct seed them in the ground when possible. Cruciferous and nightshades such as cabbages, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and tomatoes and peppers don’t germinate in the ground as well and prefer to be started in a controlled environment.
They are finicky germinators. They like constant temperatures when they sprout. In addition, carrots, lettuce, peas, and radishes germinate well in the ground outside. Okra does well direct seeded too.
If you love heirloom seeds and want to buy some wonderful quality seeds from a family owned small business, check out Seeds for Generations. I LOVE their seeds and love supporting small businesses. Look how gorgeous!
There are some plants that are replanted to grow a new crop, such as garlic. You just take a head of homegrown garlic or garlic intended for planting and not eating, and break off each clove and plant it in the ground. A new head will grow from that clove.
Potatoes are cut into individual chunks and cured for two weeks and then planted in the ground. Sweet potatoes are sprouted in water and the “slips” or green parts that grow are planted directly into the ground. Onions do better when you plant a set or tiny onion plant than when you try to grow them from seed. That is our experience anyway, anything is possible.
Here in the deep summer, it’s too hot to plant anything. These months are filled with harvesting and struggling to keep your plants alive and keep them from drying out too fast. You may be able to plant some things during this time, but not usually. Let you instincts guide you in the garden.
Even if you think you can’t garden because you don’t have a yard or live in an apartment, click here to see how you can!
When to plant vegetables in zone 7
This is the schedule we use at Little Sprouts for what we have plan to plant.
February: Cabbage Plant
Carrots Seed
Cauliflower Plant
Swiss Chard Seed
Kohlrabi Seed
Lettuce Seed or Plant
Onion Sets or Plant
Peas Seed
Potato Tuber pieces
Spinach Seed
Kale Seed
March: Cabbage Plant
Carrots Seed
Cauliflower Plant
Swiss Chard Seed
Kohlrabi Seed
Lettuce Seed or Plant
Onion Sets or Plant
Peas Seed
Potato Tuber pieces
Radish Seed
Spinach Seed
Broccoli Plant
Kale Seed
Herbs Plants
April: Radish Seed
Beans Seed
Cucumber Seed or Plant
Pumpkin Seed
Summer Squash Seed or Plant
Corn Seed
Herbs Plants
Flowers Seed
May: Melons Seed
Cucumber Seed or Plant
Okra Seed
Pepper Plant
Tomato Plant
Pumpkin Seed
Summer Squash Seed
Winter Squash Seed
Sweet Potato Plant (slips)
Tomatillos Plant
June: Cucumber Seed
Okra Seed
Pepper Plant
Tomato Plant
Summer Squash Seed
Winter Squash Seed
Sweet Potato Plant (slips)
Tomatillo Plant
September: Cabbage Plant
Carrots Seed
Cauliflower Plant
Swiss Chard Seed
Kohlrabi Seed
Lettuce Seed or Plant
Onion Sets or Plant
Peas Seed
Potato Tuber pieces
Spinach Seed
Broccoli Plant
Kale Seed
October: Cabbage Plant
Carrots Seed
Cauliflower Plant
Swiss Chard Seed
Kohlrabi Seed
Lettuce Seed or Plant
Onion Sets or Plant
Peas Seed
Potato Tuber pieces
Radish Seed
Spinach Seed
Broccoli Plant
Kale Seed
Garlic Clove
For information on how to grow medicinal plants INDOORS, click here.
Any post on this blog may contain affiliate links which pay me a very small commission for items you purchase using the links but costs you nothing extra. I can help defray a small percentage of the cost of producing the blog to share information with you.
What are you planning to plant in the garden? I hope this vegetable garden planting guide helps you work it out. If you want to check out how to plan your garden, click here. Happy planting!
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Christina,
What a lovely page you have. How wonderful that you are teaching this to the children in your care. My babies are in college now, but I would have loved it if they had an opportunity to garden at childcare. I live in northern California (zone 9b) and work at a large agriculture university where I have access to a lot of master gardeners, but I would rather ask you a garden question. I’m a big tomato, cucumber, and squash gardener. This will be my first year ever to do green beans. From what I have read, it says to plant seed directly into the garden bed and not start seeds indoors. Do you have any tips or thoughts on that? Thank you. Gina
Hi Gina, thanks so much for your comments and for reading the post. Yes, i would totally direct sow green bean seeds in the ground. That’s what we do and I have read that they don’t like to be transplanted once they sprout so they like that best. They have a fairly short growing season, so there’s no need to rush getting them planted inside anyway. Thanks for your question. Have a great day!
Great post! The planting guide is very helpful and my sister will be very glad to have it for planning her garden. My daughters will be very interested of your post too. The love to help me in the garden. Happy gardening!
Happy gardening to you too and thanks so much! 🙂
I didn’t realize we are neighbors, of sort, both living in Oklahoma!
I love gardening, probably because my Dad enjoyed it so much.
This will be my first Spring in our house (we recently moved here
from Louisiana) so will probably just plant a few container things.
But I’ll enjoy seeing your garden. BTW, your little Sprouts are
adorable!
Thank you! I’m glad you love to grow things, it’s so beneficial in so many ways. Thanks for checking out the article. 🙂 Come back and see us!
Great tips.
Thank you!