Albany, NY · zone 5b · ~179 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Albany.
In Albany, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 24 and the first fall frost around Oct 20, giving you about 179 frost-free days. Cool-season crops go out before the last frost; warm-season crops wait until after it.
The 2026 windows
Sow dates for Albany, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 20 to May 20 | May 1 to Jul 1 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 17 to May 1 | Aug 6 to Oct 5 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 17 to Apr 19 | Jul 25 to Aug 20 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 24 to Jun 14 | Jul 6 to Aug 8 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 1 to Jul 31 | Jun 19 to Jul 20 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 29 to May 20 | May 10 to Jul 1 | — |
| Kale | Feb 3 to Mar 3 | Mar 17 to Apr 14 | Jul 20 to Sep 4 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 3 to Apr 14 | Aug 6 to Sep 24 |
Albany sits in Zone 5b, but two gardens in the same city can be a week or two apart. The planner works from your ZIP code's frost dates, not the zone, so the dates land right for your block, not the metro average.
Build your Albany garden plan.
Tell the free planner what you want to eat and who you're feeding. It returns plant counts, spacing, and frost-safe sow dates for ZIP 12207 in about 60 seconds.