Charleston, SC · zone 9a · ~329 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Charleston.
In Charleston, the typical last spring frost lands around Feb 4 and the first fall frost around Dec 30, giving you about 329 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 Charleston, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Dec 31 to Mar 2 | Feb 11 to Apr 13 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Jan 1 to Feb 11 | Oct 16 to Dec 15 |
| Carrot | — | Jan 1 to Jan 30 | Oct 4 to Oct 30 |
| Bush Bean | — | Feb 4 to Mar 27 | Sep 15 to Oct 18 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Feb 11 to May 13 | Aug 29 to Sep 29 |
| Pepper, bell | Jan 9 to Mar 2 | Feb 20 to Apr 13 | — |
| Kale | Nov 20 to Dec 14 | Jan 1 to Jan 25 | Sep 29 to Nov 14 |
| Spinach | — | Jan 1 to Jan 25 | Oct 16 to Dec 4 |
Charleston sits in Zone 9a, 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 Charleston 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 29401 in about 60 seconds.