Knoxville, TN · zone 7b · ~203 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Knoxville.
In Knoxville, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 9 and the first fall frost around Oct 29, giving you about 203 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 Knoxville, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 5 to May 5 | Apr 16 to Jun 16 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 2 to Apr 16 | Aug 15 to Oct 14 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 2 to Apr 4 | Aug 3 to Aug 29 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 9 to May 30 | Jul 15 to Aug 17 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Apr 16 to Jul 16 | Jun 28 to Jul 29 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 14 to May 5 | Apr 25 to Jun 16 | — |
| Kale | Jan 19 to Feb 16 | Mar 2 to Mar 30 | Jul 29 to Sep 13 |
| Spinach | — | Feb 16 to Mar 30 | Aug 15 to Oct 3 |
Knoxville sits in Zone 7b, 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 Knoxville 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 37902 in about 60 seconds.