Zone 5a monthly plan
March planting calendar for zone 5a
These actions use zone 5a's typical frost dates and each crop's extension-sourced planting window.
- Last spring frost
- May 3
- First fall frost
- October 5
- Exact actions
- 38
Get dates for your exact ZIP
Zone averages cover wide areas. Your nearest NOAA station gives a more local frost window.
Source-backed actions
Your March checklist
Search a crop or narrow the list by garden action. Dates are shifted from zone 5a's typical frost window.
Showing 7 of 38 matching actions
Start indoors
36- Ageratum
flower
February 22 to March 8SourceUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension (Wisconsin Horticulture) - March 8 to March 22SourceClemson Cooperative Extension, Home & Garden Information Center
- Bachelors Button
flower
March 8 to March 22SourceNorth Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox (NC State Extension) - Basil
herb
March 8 to March 22SourceUniversity of Minnesota Extension - Bok Choy
vegetable
March 22 to April 5SourceCornell University Home Gardening
Transplant outdoors
1- Kale
vegetable
March 29 to April 5SourceUtah State University Extension
Direct sow
1- Kale
vegetable
March 29 to April 5SourceUtah State University Extension
How this checklist is sourced
USDA defines the hardiness zone, NOAA normals provide the typical frost anchors, and each crop's extension source supplies the planting offset. Broad season-only notes are kept on plant profiles because they do not change from one zone page to another.
- USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map, 2023 by USDA Agricultural Research Service / Oregon State University PRISM Group. the USDA hardiness-zone band.
- U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020 by NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. the median spring and fall freeze dates.
Local conditions vary.