What to Plant in December in Zone 3
Here is what you can sow in December if you garden in USDA zone 3. Dates use typical zone 3 frosts, so your own microclimate may shift them by a week or two.
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Quiet monthThere is not much to direct sow outdoors in December for zone 3. Use the planner to map the whole year so you never miss a window.
Zone 3 in December
December in Zone 3: Order for 70 Days, Not 90
Read the days-to-maturity number before you read the description
Seed catalogs arrive by the box this month, and the fastest way to waste a spring is to fall for a tomato variety bred for a longer season than yours. With roughly 120 frost free days and cool soil that delays early growth by another 1 to 2 weeks, look for varieties rated 65 to 70 days or under for anything you plan to direct seed.
For any transplanted crop, add whatever weeks you will spend growing it indoors before that days-to-maturity clock even starts: tomatoes typically need 6 to 8 weeks under lights, peppers closer to 8 to 10. A 75 day tomato started indoors is a very different bet here than the same variety direct seeded somewhere with a 6 month season.
Build the order around 3 proven varieties and 1 experiment
Reorder the 3 varieties that finished reliably last year before you browse anything new. Then pick exactly 1 unfamiliar variety to trial in a single short row, so a bad bet costs you 10 row feet instead of your whole harvest.
Log every order in a notebook or spreadsheet with the days-to-maturity number written next to each variety name. Once spring arrives that list becomes your planting order: shortest maturity crops go in the ground first, longest go under the earliest cover you own.
Order seed potatoes and onion sets alongside your seed packets rather than as an afterthought in a separate order later. Both sell out of the best varieties early, often by late January, well before most gardeners even open a catalog for the first time.
December in zone 3: common questions
What can I plant in December in zone 3?+
December is a quiet outdoor-sowing month for zone 3. Start warm-season seeds indoors, or plan the next window. Your exact dates depend on your ZIP code's frost, not just the zone.
What USDA hardiness zone am I in?+
Zone 3 is one band of the map, but planting time is set by your local frost dates, not the zone number. Enter your ZIP code in the free planner and it uses your actual frost dates, which can differ by weeks within a single zone.
Are these December planting dates exact?+
They are typical zone 3 windows. Two gardens in the same zone can be a week or two apart because of elevation and local climate, so treat these as a starting point and tune them to your ZIP code with the free planner.