Columbia, SC · zone 8a · ~245 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Columbia.
In Columbia, the typical last spring frost lands around Mar 16 and the first fall frost around Nov 16, giving you about 245 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 | Feb 9 to Apr 11 | Mar 23 to May 23 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Feb 6 to Mar 23 | Sep 2 to Nov 1 |
| Carrot | — | Feb 6 to Mar 11 | Aug 21 to Sep 16 |
| Bush Bean | — | Mar 16 to May 6 | Aug 2 to Sep 4 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Mar 23 to Jun 22 | Jul 16 to Aug 16 |
| Pepper, bell | Feb 18 to Apr 11 | Apr 1 to May 23 | — |
| Kale | Dec 26 to Jan 23 | Feb 6 to Mar 6 | Aug 16 to Oct 1 |
| Spinach | — | Jan 23 to Mar 6 | Sep 2 to Oct 21 |
Columbia sits in Zone 8a, 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 29201 in about 60 seconds.