PLAN YOUR GROWING SEASON
Planting calendar
Find local freeze estimates and plan when to start, sow, and transplant your seeds. Enter your ZIP code, adjust the dates for your garden, and print your calendar.
Use or adjust your local freeze dates
Know your garden’s dates? Enter the last spring and first fall freeze dates you use for planning. Changes recalculate your calendar. A forecast, soil warmth and local experience always take priority.
HOLLOWSTEAD SEED CO. · YOUR GROWING PLAN
- Last spring freeze estimate
- First fall freeze estimate
Each card shows a starting window. If it offers direct sowing and transplanting, choose one method. Indoor starts are timed to the beginning of the outdoor window; delay sowing if you plan to plant out later.
A starting point for your garden.
This calendar uses 32°F freeze estimates from NOAA’s 1991–2020 climate normals. It selects the nearest station with agricultural records within 50 miles of your Census ZIP-area reference point. Distance is approximate; a nearby station may have a different elevation, coastline or microclimate from your garden. Frost can form on plants even when the reported air temperature is above freezing.
The default dates use NOAA’s 10% probability estimates: a last spring freeze on or after the spring date, and a first fall freeze on or before the fall date, conditional on a freeze occurring that cold season. They leave more room for cold than median dates, but they do not guarantee frost-free weather. We cannot calculate local soil warmth or this year’s weather from a ZIP code.
Some ZIP codes are absent from Census ZIP areas. Some weather stations have no usable seasonal freeze dates. For frost-free gardens, unusual winter growing seasons or year-round freeze risk, follow regional extension guidance instead of forcing a spring-to-fall calendar. Manual dates are available when a seasonal frost window makes sense for your garden.
Sources and planting notes
Climate: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, annual/seasonal 1991–2020, version 1.0.1; Palecki and colleagues, 2021. Geography: Census 2026 Gazetteer ZIP Code Tabulation Areas.
Planting windows combine Hollowstead’s variety guides with extension guidance on starting plants indoors, peppers and lettuce. They are editorial planning ranges, not NOAA planting recommendations. Fall windows target cool-weather leaves or heads; heat, day length and your harvest goal may change them.
Growing guides for Hollowstead varieties
- Black Krim growing guide
- Black Cherry growing guide
- Principe Borghese growing guide
- Yellow Pear growing guide
- Pineapple growing guide
- Jimmy Nardello growing guide
- Fish Pepper growing guide
- Royal Burgundy growing guide
- Red Noodle growing guide
- Lemon Cucumber growing guide
- Marketmore 76 growing guide
- National Pickling growing guide
- Red Sails growing guide
- Parris Island Cos growing guide
- Thai Basil growing guide
- Green Shiso growing guide
- Slow Bolt Cilantro growing guide
- Mammoth Long Island Dill growing guide
- Lemon Queen Sunflower growing guide
- Sensation Mixture Cosmos growing guide
- California Giant Mix Zinnia growing guide
- Zeolights Calendula growing guide