Bend, OR · zone 6a · ~105 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Bend.
In Bend, the typical last spring frost lands around Jun 6 and the first fall frost around Sep 19, giving you about 105 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 Bend, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | May 2 to Jul 2 | Jun 13 to Aug 13 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Apr 29 to Jun 13 | Jul 6 to Sep 4 |
| Carrot | — | Apr 29 to Jun 1 | Jun 24 to Jul 20 |
| Bush Bean | — | Jun 6 to Jul 27 | Jun 5 to Jul 8 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Jun 13 to Sep 12 | May 19 to Jun 19 |
| Pepper, bell | May 11 to Jul 2 | Jun 22 to Aug 13 | — |
| Kale | Mar 18 to Apr 15 | Apr 29 to May 27 | Jun 19 to Aug 4 |
| Spinach | — | Apr 15 to May 27 | Jul 6 to Aug 24 |
Bend sits in Zone 6a, 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 Bend 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 97701 in about 60 seconds.