Grand Rapids, MI · zone 6a · ~169 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Grand Rapids.
In Grand Rapids, the typical last spring frost lands around May 1 and the first fall frost around Oct 17, giving you about 169 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 Grand Rapids, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 27 to May 27 | May 8 to Jul 8 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 24 to May 8 | Aug 3 to Oct 2 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 24 to Apr 26 | Jul 22 to Aug 17 |
| Bush Bean | — | May 1 to Jun 21 | Jul 3 to Aug 5 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 8 to Aug 7 | Jun 16 to Jul 17 |
| Pepper, bell | Apr 5 to May 27 | May 17 to Jul 8 | — |
| Kale | Feb 10 to Mar 10 | Mar 24 to Apr 21 | Jul 17 to Sep 1 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 10 to Apr 21 | Aug 3 to Sep 21 |
Grand Rapids 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 Grand Rapids 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 49503 in about 60 seconds.