Irvine, CA · zone 10a · ~354 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Irvine.
In Irvine, the typical last spring frost lands around Jan 5 and the first fall frost around Dec 25, giving you about 354 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 Irvine, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Dec 1 to Jan 31 | Jan 12 to Mar 14 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Jan 1 to Jan 12 | Oct 11 to Dec 10 |
| Carrot | — | Jan 1 to Jan 1 | Sep 29 to Oct 25 |
| Bush Bean | — | Jan 5 to Feb 25 | Sep 10 to Oct 13 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Jan 12 to Apr 13 | Aug 24 to Sep 24 |
| Pepper, bell | Dec 10 to Jan 31 | Jan 21 to Mar 14 | — |
| Kale | Nov 20 to Nov 20 | Jan 1 to Jan 1 | Sep 24 to Nov 9 |
| Spinach | — | Jan 1 to Jan 1 | Oct 11 to Nov 29 |
Irvine sits in Zone 10a, 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 Irvine 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 92618 in about 60 seconds.