Durham, NC · zone 8a · ~217 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Durham.
In Durham, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 1 and the first fall frost around Nov 4, giving you about 217 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 Durham, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Feb 25 to Apr 27 | Apr 8 to Jun 8 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Feb 22 to Apr 8 | Aug 21 to Oct 20 |
| Carrot | — | Feb 22 to Mar 27 | Aug 9 to Sep 4 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 1 to May 22 | Jul 21 to Aug 23 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Apr 8 to Jul 8 | Jul 4 to Aug 4 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 6 to Apr 27 | Apr 17 to Jun 8 | — |
| Kale | Jan 11 to Feb 8 | Feb 22 to Mar 22 | Aug 4 to Sep 19 |
| Spinach | — | Feb 8 to Mar 22 | Aug 21 to Oct 9 |
Durham 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 Durham 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 27701 in about 60 seconds.