Portland, ME · zone 5b · ~172 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Portland.
In Portland, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 26 and the first fall frost around Oct 15, giving you about 172 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 Portland, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 22 to May 22 | May 3 to Jul 3 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 19 to May 3 | Aug 1 to Sep 30 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 19 to Apr 21 | Jul 20 to Aug 15 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 26 to Jun 16 | Jul 1 to Aug 3 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 3 to Aug 2 | Jun 14 to Jul 15 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 31 to May 22 | May 12 to Jul 3 | — |
| Kale | Feb 5 to Mar 5 | Mar 19 to Apr 16 | Jul 15 to Aug 30 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 5 to Apr 16 | Aug 1 to Sep 19 |
Portland sits in Zone 5b, 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 Portland 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 04101 in about 60 seconds.