March Planting Guide by Zone
Click on your Zone for details.
Zones 1 – 4
- Towards the end of the month, start tomatoes, peppers and eggplant indoors under lights and use bottom heat to speed the germination and early growth.
- Start onions from seed, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts indoors under lights. When seedlings have their second pair of true leaves, transplant them to larger pots.
- For transplanting flowers, start zinnias, salvia, petunias, and nicotiana indoors under lights.
- Transplant any pot-bound houseplants.
- Hold back on removing mulch from perennials: The sun will warm the soil and stimulate new growth, which the hard freezes still to come could damage.
Zones 5 – 6
- Towards the end of the month, start tomatoes, peppers and eggplant indoors under lights and use bottom heat to speed the germination and early growth.
- Transplant early season tomatoes started last month into larger pots.
- Start broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, and lettuce indoors under lights and on heat mats for an early greens crop. You will transplant these early next month.
- Start annual flowers, such as marigolds and zinnias, indoors under lights.
- As soon the garden soil is workable, start planting potatoes, peas, lettuce, radishes, and carrots. Also, transplant onion and leek seedlings started last month. Onion transplants should go in about two inches deep, for leek seedlings use a garden dibber to poke a hole about six inches deep and plant the leek up to its leaves for a longer blanched section.
- Late in the month, sow seeds of nasturtiums .
Zones 7 – 8
- Start broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and kale under lights and heat indoors for transplanting early next month.
- In the middle of the month, plant a row of Swiss chard. Tender stalks will be ready to harvest in mid-May—and the plants will keep producing all summer.
- Also, in midmonth, sow other hardy vegetables, such as carrots, beets, kohlrabi, radishes, spinach, mustard, leaf lettuces, and turnips.
- This season, add new flowers to your garden, such as bee balm, cosmos, marigold, sunflower, and zinnia.
Zones 9 – 10
- Succession plant another round of cool-loving vegetables, such as cabbage, broccoli, spinach, radishes, lettuce, and parsley. It may be too late to plant peas, however, if temperatures usually turn hot in your area by April or May.
- Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants can be hardened off by being moved outside, beneath a plastic cover, or inside a cold frame during the day for a few days. They can then be planted in the garden after the last possible frost.
- Once frost danger has passed, plant okra, sweet potatoes, beans, squash, corn, cucumbers, and melons.
- Plant flowers that will tolerate heat: petunias, zinnias, and Roselle.
- Keep an eye out for insects. Control early aphids with a soapy spray on leaves, and you’ll see fewer as the season progresses.
Zone Planting Guides
Planting charts for your Zone
Zone 3
Zone 3 is the coldest and shortest of the USDA garden zones.
Zone 4
Zone 5
Zone 6
Zone 7
Zone 8
Zone 9
Zone 10
USDA Zones vs First & Last Frost Dates
Which to Use and Why
USDA Zone Maps
These guides show the lowest average temperatures recorded in the area over the past 30 years.
They are a good basis for initial planning and comparison but should not be used as the only source of information for choosing what vegetables to grow or when to plant.
The Zone information is helpful when exchanging ideas with gardeners in different zones, as it is user-friendly.
Find your USDA hardiness zone here.
Scroll using your cursor to grab and move the map, then zoom in with the + and – buttons at the top left. Once you can see your town, city, or location, click on the map to see your Zone info in a popup window.
First & Last Frost Dates Tool
This frost dates tool provides detailed and accurate information for sowing seed, transplanting, and using frost protection to extend the growing season.
It includes historical data from numerous regional NOAA weather stations to help determine the likelihood of frost in spring and fall.
Find your First and Last frost dates here.
Enter your ZIP code and scroll down to see general information and the three closest weather stations to you.