St. Louis, MO · zone 7a · ~208 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in St. Louis.
In St. Louis, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 5 and the first fall frost around Oct 30, giving you about 208 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 St. Louis, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 1 to May 1 | Apr 12 to Jun 12 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Feb 26 to Apr 12 | Aug 16 to Oct 15 |
| Carrot | — | Feb 26 to Mar 31 | Aug 4 to Aug 30 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 5 to May 26 | Jul 16 to Aug 18 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Apr 12 to Jul 12 | Jun 29 to Jul 30 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 10 to May 1 | Apr 21 to Jun 12 | — |
| Kale | Jan 15 to Feb 12 | Feb 26 to Mar 26 | Jul 30 to Sep 14 |
| Spinach | — | Feb 12 to Mar 26 | Aug 16 to Oct 4 |
St. Louis sits in Zone 7a, 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 St. Louis 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 63101 in about 60 seconds.