Springfield, MA · zone 5b · ~166 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Springfield.
In Springfield, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 29 and the first fall frost around Oct 12, giving you about 166 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 Springfield, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 25 to May 25 | May 6 to Jul 6 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 22 to May 6 | Jul 29 to Sep 27 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 22 to Apr 24 | Jul 17 to Aug 12 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 29 to Jun 19 | Jun 28 to Jul 31 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 6 to Aug 5 | Jun 11 to Jul 12 |
| Pepper, bell | Apr 3 to May 25 | May 15 to Jul 6 | — |
| Kale | Feb 8 to Mar 8 | Mar 22 to Apr 19 | Jul 12 to Aug 27 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 8 to Apr 19 | Jul 29 to Sep 16 |
Springfield 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 Springfield 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 01103 in about 60 seconds.