Tool
Crop guide
Family, season, frost class, spacing, days to maturity, soil temperature, seed life and amount per person for 21 common vegetables, each figure with its source.
One row per crop. Filter by typing a name, or tap a tag. Every column comes from one named source, listed under the table; where sources disagree, the table uses one and the note says so. These are planning conventions, not promises: a variety's own packet overrules a general figure for that variety.
| Crop | Family | Season | Frost class | Usual start | Spacing (in, equidistant) | Days to harvest | Min. soil temp to germinate | Seed life (years) | Planting per person | Succession | Container size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato | Solanaceae tomato family | warm | very tender | Transplant 5 to 7 wk indoors | 18-24 | 65 from transplant | 50 °F | 3 | 3 to 5 plants | 8 to 10 gal (dwarf: 4 to 6) | |
| Pepper | Solanaceae tomato family | warm | very tender | Transplant 6 to 8 wk indoors | 12-15 | 70 from transplant | 60 °F | 2 | 3 to 5 plants | 8 to 10 gal (dwarf: 4 to 6) | |
| Eggplant | Solanaceae tomato family | warm | very tender | Transplant 6 to 9 wk indoors | 18-24 | 60 from transplant | 60 °F | 4 | 2 to 3 plants | 8 to 10 gal (dwarf: 4 to 6) | |
| Potato | Solanaceae tomato family | cool | semi-hardy | Seed pieces | 10-12 | 125 | not listed | not grown from seed | 50 to 100 ft of row | 30 gal | |
| Bush bean | Fabaceae bean family | warm | tender | Direct sow | 4-6 | 60 | 60 °F | 3 | 15 to 16 ft of row | 10 days | 1 to 6 gal |
| Pea | Fabaceae bean family | cool | hardy | Direct sow | 2-4 | 65 | 40 °F | 3 | 15 to 20 ft of row | 1 to 3 gal | |
| Lettuce | Asteraceae lettuce family | cool | hardy | Either 6 to 8 wk indoors | 4-6 | 60 | 35 °F | 5 | 10 ft of row (leaf) | 7 days | 1 to 3 gal |
| Spinach | Amaranthaceae beet family | cool | hardy | Direct sow | 4-6 | 40 | 35 °F | 3 | 5 to 10 ft of row | 7 days | 1 to 3 gal |
| Beet | Amaranthaceae beet family | cool | semi-hardy | Direct sow | 2-4 | 60 | 40 °F | 4 | 5 to 10 ft of row | 14 days | 4 to 6 gal |
| Kale | Brassicaceae cabbage family | cool | hardy | Either 6 to 8 wk indoors | 15-18 | 55 to 65 | not listed | 4 | 5 to 10 ft of row | 4 to 6 gal | |
| Cabbage | Brassicaceae cabbage family | cool | hardy | Transplant 5 to 7 wk indoors | 15-18 | 85 from transplant | 40 °F | 4 | 3 to 4 plants | 4 to 6 gal | |
| Broccoli | Brassicaceae cabbage family | cool | hardy | Transplant 5 to 7 wk indoors | 12-18 | 65 from transplant | not listed | 3 | 3 to 5 plants | 4 to 6 gal | |
| Radish | Brassicaceae cabbage family | cool | hardy | Direct sow | 2-3 | 30 | 40 °F | 5 | 3 to 5 ft of row | 7 days | 1 to 3 gal |
| Carrot | Apiaceae carrot family | cool | semi-hardy | Direct sow | 2-3 | 70 | 40 °F | 3 | 5 to 10 ft of row | 21 days | 4 to 6 gal |
| Onion | Amaryllidaceae onion family | cool | hardy | Either 10 to 12 wk indoors | 2-4 | 110 | 35 °F | 1 | 3 to 5 ft of row | scallions 1 to 3 gal; bulbs not listed | |
| Garlic | Amaryllidaceae onion family | cool | planted in fall | Cloves | 5 | fall planted; harvest next summer | not listed | not grown from seed | 1 to 5 ft of row | 1 to 3 gal | |
| Cucumber | Cucurbitaceae squash family | warm | tender | Direct sow 2 to 3 wk indoors | 12-18 | 55 | 60 °F | 5 | 1 to 2 hills | 21 days | 8 to 10 gal |
| Summer squash | Cucurbitaceae squash family | warm | tender | Direct sow 2 to 3 wk indoors | 18-24 | 50 | 60 °F | 4 | 2 to 3 hills | 30 days | 4 to 6 gal |
| Winter squash | Cucurbitaceae squash family | warm | very tender | Direct sow 2 to 3 wk indoors | 24-36 | 100 | 60 °F | 4 | 1 to 3 hills | 8 to 10 gal | |
| Sweet corn | Poaceae grass family | warm | tender | Direct sow | 15-18 | 60 to 90 | 50 °F | 2 | 10 to 15 ft of row | 10 days | not listed |
| Basil | Lamiaceae mint family | warm | tender | Either 6 to 8 wk indoors | 6-12 | not listed | not listed | not listed | not listed | 14 days | 1 to 3 gal |
Where each column comes from
| Column | Source | Claim type and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Family | Iowa State University Extension, Crop Rotation in the Vegetable Garden | Definition Current botanical family names. Older guides use Chenopodiaceae for beets and spinach and Alliaceae for onions and garlic (WSU Snohomish County). |
| Season and frost class | Colorado State University Extension, CMG GardenNotes #720 | Convention Kale is not in CSU's lists; Purdue HO-186 classes it hardy. Basil is tender per University of Minnesota Extension. Purdue lists potato as hardy where CSU lists it semi-hardy: a published disagreement. |
| Usual start | Purdue HO-186; University of Minnesota Extension (radish and carrot are direct sown; beets are simplest from seed, though growers also transplant young beets from paper pots); CSU #720 (vine crops are best direct seeded; if transplanted, use plants 2 to 3 weeks old) | Convention "Either" means both are common. |
| Weeks indoors | CSU #720 transplant ages; Cornell Cooperative Extension Rockland County for lettuce, kale and onion; University of Minnesota for basil | Convention Weeks from sowing indoors to planting out. |
| Spacing | Virginia Cooperative Extension 426-335, intensive spacing guide; garlic from Illinois Extension; basil from University of Minnesota | Convention Equidistant: the same distance between plants in every direction. Bean is the bush bean figure; lettuce is leaf lettuce (head lettuce 10 to 12). |
| Days to harvest | CSU #720; kale from Kansas State MF315 | Convention "From transplant" means counted from the day transplants go in the garden. The calendar uses the longer figure of a range (kale 65, sweet corn 90). Your seed packet's figure for your variety overrules these. |
| Min. soil temp | Oregon State University Extension, Soil temperature conditions for vegetable seed germination (Harrington data) | Physical principle Laboratory minimums: seed germinates slowly near the minimum. "Squash" covers summer and winter squash. Broccoli, kale, potato, garlic and basil are not in the table. |
| Seed life | Nebraska Extension G2090 | Convention Relative longevity in cool, dry storage. University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension gives some different figures. The germination test (Module 7) tells you about your own packet. |
| Planting per person | Kansas State Research and Extension MF315 | Convention One state's figures for a typical season. Virginia Cooperative Extension notes children need about half an adult amount. We give no yield figures. |
| Succession | University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension, Franklin County (credited to Johnny's Selected Seeds) | Convention Days between sowings for a steady harvest. Blank means none given. |
| Container size | University of Maryland Extension, Types of Containers for Growing Vegetables | Convention Large crops 8 to 10 gal, 12 to 16 in deep, one plant per pot; medium 4 to 6 gal; small 1 to 3 gal. Every container needs drainage holes. |
Full links for every source are in the resource library. The modules teach how each column is used: spacing and families in Module 5, timing in Module 6, seed life in Module 7.
Limits
The table is 21 crops. For anything else, and for the varieties that do well where you live, ask your extension service; Module 1 shows how to find it. A figure here is a general convention from one publisher; it does not describe your variety, your soil or this year's weather.