Dayton, OH · zone 6a · ~190 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Dayton.
In Dayton, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 18 and the first fall frost around Oct 25, giving you about 190 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 Dayton, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 14 to May 14 | Apr 25 to Jun 25 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 11 to Apr 25 | Aug 11 to Oct 10 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 11 to Apr 13 | Jul 30 to Aug 25 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 18 to Jun 8 | Jul 11 to Aug 13 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Apr 25 to Jul 25 | Jun 24 to Jul 25 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 23 to May 14 | May 4 to Jun 25 | — |
| Kale | Jan 28 to Feb 25 | Mar 11 to Apr 8 | Jul 25 to Sep 9 |
| Spinach | — | Feb 25 to Apr 8 | Aug 11 to Sep 29 |
Dayton 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 Dayton 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 45402 in about 60 seconds.