Detroit, MI · zone 6b · ~184 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Detroit.
In Detroit, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 25 and the first fall frost around Oct 26, giving you about 184 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 Detroit, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 21 to May 21 | May 2 to Jul 2 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 18 to May 2 | Aug 12 to Oct 11 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 18 to Apr 20 | Jul 31 to Aug 26 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 25 to Jun 15 | Jul 12 to Aug 14 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 2 to Aug 1 | Jun 25 to Jul 26 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 30 to May 21 | May 11 to Jul 2 | — |
| Kale | Feb 4 to Mar 4 | Mar 18 to Apr 15 | Jul 26 to Sep 10 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 4 to Apr 15 | Aug 12 to Sep 30 |
Detroit 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 Detroit 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 48226 in about 60 seconds.