Columbia, MO · zone 6a · ~207 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Columbia.
In Columbia, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 6 and the first fall frost around Oct 30, giving you about 207 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 Columbia, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 2 to May 2 | Apr 13 to Jun 13 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Feb 27 to Apr 13 | Aug 16 to Oct 15 |
| Carrot | — | Feb 27 to Apr 1 | Aug 4 to Aug 30 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 6 to May 27 | Jul 16 to Aug 18 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Apr 13 to Jul 13 | Jun 29 to Jul 30 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 11 to May 2 | Apr 22 to Jun 13 | — |
| Kale | Jan 16 to Feb 13 | Feb 27 to Mar 27 | Jul 30 to Sep 14 |
| Spinach | — | Feb 13 to Mar 27 | Aug 16 to Oct 4 |
Columbia 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 Columbia 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 65201 in about 60 seconds.