Lansing, MI · zone 6a · ~167 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Lansing.
In Lansing, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 30 and the first fall frost around Oct 14, giving you about 167 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 Lansing, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 26 to May 26 | May 7 to Jul 7 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 23 to May 7 | Jul 31 to Sep 29 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 23 to Apr 25 | Jul 19 to Aug 14 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 30 to Jun 20 | Jun 30 to Aug 2 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 7 to Aug 6 | Jun 13 to Jul 14 |
| Pepper, bell | Apr 4 to May 26 | May 16 to Jul 7 | — |
| Kale | Feb 9 to Mar 9 | Mar 23 to Apr 20 | Jul 14 to Aug 29 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 9 to Apr 20 | Jul 31 to Sep 18 |
Lansing 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 Lansing 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 48933 in about 60 seconds.