Anchorage, AK · zone 5a · ~151 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Anchorage.
In Anchorage, the typical last spring frost lands around May 1 and the first fall frost around Sep 29, giving you about 151 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 Anchorage, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 27 to May 27 | May 8 to Jul 8 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 24 to May 8 | Jul 16 to Sep 14 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 24 to Apr 26 | Jul 4 to Jul 30 |
| Bush Bean | — | May 1 to Jun 21 | Jun 15 to Jul 18 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 8 to Aug 7 | May 29 to Jun 29 |
| Pepper, bell | Apr 5 to May 27 | May 17 to Jul 8 | — |
| Kale | Feb 10 to Mar 10 | Mar 24 to Apr 21 | Jun 29 to Aug 14 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 10 to Apr 21 | Jul 16 to Sep 3 |
Anchorage sits in Zone 5a, 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 Anchorage 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 99501 in about 60 seconds.