Vegetable Planting Calendar
Create your garden planting chart, showing when to plant each vegetable. Simply schedule approximate starting harvest date for each vegetable and maturity days, and its planting date is calculated and added to your vegetable growing calendar. Also use for varying maturity days, or multiple plantings of the same vegetable. More below
Related Calculators: Planting Date Calculator (1 Vegetable), Harvest Calculator
Entry Fields
You can calculate planting dates for up to 15 vegetables. For each, enter all data on the row: vegetable name, vegetable's days to maturity, and the harvest date.
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Vegetable (Name) - Enter the name of the vegetable. Each name must be unique. If you are planning multiple types of a vegetable, differentiate by adding the variety. For example, Cherry Tomatoes, Roma Tomatoes.
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Days to Mature - Specify how long, in days, for the vegetable to mature, at which time it is ready to pick. The seed package typically shows days to maturity. If garden planning prior to purchasing your seeds or seedlings, you can often find the information online.
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Harvest Date - This is the approximate date you want to harvest the vegetable. You can open the calendar at the top of the entry form to reference upcoming dates. To calculate the planting date, days to mature is subtracted from the harvest date.
If you want to harvest a group of different vegetables at about the same time, you can facilitate date entry using the Set Harvest Date field at the top of the form. To use, specify the date using the drop-downs or use the date picker. Once set, click or tap the Set Harvest Date link. All Harvest Date fields on the entry form are updated to this date. You can then fine tune, by changing any date.
For instance, if you want to harvest a group of veggies on July 25th, enter that into Set Harvest Date field and click/tap the link. Then, if you want one of the vegetables to harvest on July 30th and another on July 15th, update the dates for those two vegetables.
About Vegetable Planning Calendar
Find out when to plant your vegetables so they are harvestable on or about your planned dates. Generate your vegetable planting schedule for up to 15 vegetables. Also use to plan multiple harvest dates for the same vegetable, spaced out throughout the growing season.
For example, some radishes mature in as little as 21 days, so you could plan radishes for June 10th, June 31st, July 21st. To do so, in this example, add Radishes to 3 rows. Since name needs to be unique, you might name as: Radishes - June 10, Radishes June 31, etc.
Similarly, for determinate vegetables, where the crop is generally harvestable at the same time, within a finite period, you could plant weeks (or more) apart to have multiple crops.
Keep in mind that while the calendar of vegetable planting dates are estimates since they are based on days to maturity, which is typically approximate, and can be affected by your growing zone, climate variations in any given growing season, and other factors such as wildlife and insects.
For any planting date generated, you should check if the date is feasible for your growing zone by checking weather forecasts. For instance, if your zone tends to have late frosts in spring, you may have to postpone planting outdoors. Likewise, make sure the harvest dates you specify work within your zone, so that they can mature before early frosts.
How is Plant Date Calculated?
The formula for calculating plant date is simple:
Plant Date = Harvest Date - Days to Maturity
For each vegetable, you provide harvest date and days to maturity, and the planner reverse calculates the planting date with the above calculation.
What is a Days to Maturity?
A vegetable's days to maturity is the number of days from planting a seedling or seed until it is ready to be harvested; that is, until is can be picked and eaten!
Since days to maturity is often an average, it is an approximation, impacted by growing conditions. Consequently, the actual harvest date can be days to weeks early or late.
Another helpful way to use the planning calculator is to schedule planting of the same vegetable several times, using varying days to maturity, such as minimum, maximum, and average days.
Our Maturity Days Chart, located on the Garden Planting Calculator shows average, minimum, maximum for many vegetables; or, research online or offline for specific varieties.
What Is Growing Zone in the USA?
Growing zones, as used here, refer to the USDA Hardiness Zones, which define geographic areas of the USA in terms of minimum (lowest) average temperature ranges. Developed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are 13 US zones, each separated by 10 degrees Fahrenheit. The purpose is to help those that grow plants (e.g. gardeners) determine if a given plant is hardy enough to sustain the region's temperature.
Most perennials will indicate the growing zone. If you live in an area outside a plant's listed zone(s), it is likely that the plant is not hardy enough to survive your winter.
Most annuals, including vegetables, typically indicate the growing zones as well as seed plant date ranges for each zone. By knowing your zone, you can compare to the plant's zone information to determine if a calculated vegetable's planting date is possible for your zone. If it is not, the harvest date you've specified is too early/late, likely coinciding with frost in your zone, and you should re-calculate with a different harvest date.
To determine the growing zone for your location, use the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.
Refer to: Hardiness Zone (Wikipedia) for more information on growing zones.