Container Planting Dates by ZIP Code

Type your ZIP and pick a crop to get indoor-sow, transplant, and direct-sow dates tuned for pots — no account, nothing stored.

Updated 2026-09-23 · Sources below

Use the tool in 3 steps

1. Enter your ZIP — or pick a zone. The built-in frost table covers a sample of 15 ZIPs drawn from NOAA 1991–2020 normals. If yours misses, choose your USDA zone from the fallback picker instead. Find your zone on the USDA zone map.
2. Pick a crop and read four dates. You get indoor-sow, transplant, direct-sow, and fall-sow dates tuned for pots. Pots get no date shift — but the gate is soil warmth, so hold heat-lovers until mix stays above their floor (60°F tomato, 65°F pepper and cucumber). Pots under 5 gallons get flagged for tomatoes and peppers.
3. Sanity-check against the forecast. Treat tool dates as a start window, not a promise: frost dates are 50-50 averages. Watch the ten-day forecast before moving pots out, and cross-check full ZIP coverage in the Almanac frost tables.

How the dates are worked out

Each date starts from your last spring frost and first fall frost. Indoor sow = last frost minus the crop’s indoor weeks. Transplant = last frost plus a buffer. Direct sow = last frost plus an offset. Fall sow = first frost minus days to crop plus two weeks of slack.

Pots get no date shift. Pots warm faster but dry faster, so the gate is soil warmth: do not move heat-lovers out until potting mix holds above their floor (60°F tomato, 65°F pepper and cucumber). Pots under 5 gallons get flagged for tomatoes and peppers.

Garlic is fall-only: plant about 7 weeks before your first fall frost. It does not follow the spring math, much like your uncle’s holiday travel plans.

Sample data, not full coverage

Readers ask why some ZIPs miss. The built-in frost table is a sample of 15 ZIPs drawn from NOAA 1991–2020 normals, enough to serve many users but not full coverage. If your ZIP is missing, use the zone picker. For the deepest ZIP lookup, the Almanac frost tables beat us — use them and come back for the pot-side advice.

Common mistake: sowing by the packet alone. Packets assume garden beds. In pots, hold tender crops until nights stay warm. A common question on garden forums is “my seeds sprouted, then stalled” — cold mix is usually why.

Bottom line: we suggest you treat these dates as a start window, not a promise. Frost is a 50-50 average. Watch the ten-day forecast before you move pots out.

Go deeper

• Fall planting in containers — what to do with your fall sow date.
• Tomato pot sizes — pots under 5 gallons get flagged for a reason.
• Old Farmer’s Almanac frost-date tables — full ZIP coverage.
• USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map — confirm your zone for the fallback picker.
• NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals — where the frost data comes from.