Zone 5a monthly plan
May 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
- 50
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 May checklist
Search a crop or narrow the list by garden action. Dates are shifted from zone 5a's typical frost window.
Showing 12 of 50 matching actions
Transplant outdoors
24- Ageratum
flower
- Black-Eyed Susan
flower
- Cantaloupe
vegetable
- Cucumber
vegetable
May 3 to May 17SourceUniversity of Minnesota Extension
Direct sow
24- Basil
herb
- Bok Choy
vegetable
- Borage
herb
- Cantaloupe
vegetable
- Cosmos
flower
May 3 to May 17SourceUtah State University Extension
Harvest
2- Kohlrabi
vegetable
May 25 to June 18SourceIowa State University Extension and Outreach - Radish
vegetable
May 7 to June 3SourceUtah 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.