Bakersfield, CA · zone 9b · ~317 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Bakersfield.
In Bakersfield, the typical last spring frost lands around Jan 27 and the first fall frost around Dec 10, giving you about 317 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 Bakersfield, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Dec 23 to Feb 22 | Feb 3 to Apr 5 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Jan 1 to Feb 3 | Sep 26 to Nov 25 |
| Carrot | — | Jan 1 to Jan 22 | Sep 14 to Oct 10 |
| Bush Bean | — | Jan 27 to Mar 19 | Aug 26 to Sep 28 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Feb 3 to May 5 | Aug 9 to Sep 9 |
| Pepper, bell | Jan 1 to Feb 22 | Feb 12 to Apr 5 | — |
| Kale | Nov 20 to Dec 6 | Jan 1 to Jan 17 | Sep 9 to Oct 25 |
| Spinach | — | Jan 1 to Jan 17 | Sep 26 to Nov 14 |
Bakersfield sits in Zone 9b, 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 Bakersfield 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 93301 in about 60 seconds.