Cleveland, OH · zone 6b · ~216 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Cleveland.
In Cleveland, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 9 and the first fall frost around Nov 11, giving you about 216 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 Cleveland, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 5 to May 5 | Apr 16 to Jun 16 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 2 to Apr 16 | Aug 28 to Oct 27 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 2 to Apr 4 | Aug 16 to Sep 11 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 9 to May 30 | Jul 28 to Aug 30 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Apr 16 to Jul 16 | Jul 11 to Aug 11 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 14 to May 5 | Apr 25 to Jun 16 | — |
| Kale | Jan 19 to Feb 16 | Mar 2 to Mar 30 | Aug 11 to Sep 26 |
| Spinach | — | Feb 16 to Mar 30 | Aug 28 to Oct 16 |
Cleveland sits in Zone 6b, 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 Cleveland 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 44113 in about 60 seconds.