Little Rock, AR · zone 8a · ~236 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Little Rock.
In Little Rock, the typical last spring frost lands around Mar 20 and the first fall frost around Nov 11, giving you about 236 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 Little Rock, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Feb 13 to Apr 15 | Mar 27 to May 27 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Feb 10 to Mar 27 | Aug 28 to Oct 27 |
| Carrot | — | Feb 10 to Mar 15 | Aug 16 to Sep 11 |
| Bush Bean | — | Mar 20 to May 10 | Jul 28 to Aug 30 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Mar 27 to Jun 26 | Jul 11 to Aug 11 |
| Pepper, bell | Feb 22 to Apr 15 | Apr 5 to May 27 | — |
| Kale | Dec 30 to Jan 27 | Feb 10 to Mar 10 | Aug 11 to Sep 26 |
| Spinach | — | Jan 27 to Mar 10 | Aug 28 to Oct 16 |
Little Rock 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 Little Rock 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 72201 in about 60 seconds.