St. Paul, MN · zone 5a · ~171 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in St. Paul.
In St. Paul, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 25 and the first fall frost around Oct 13, giving you about 171 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. Paul, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 21 to May 21 | May 2 to Jul 2 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 18 to May 2 | Jul 30 to Sep 28 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 18 to Apr 20 | Jul 18 to Aug 13 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 25 to Jun 15 | Jun 29 to Aug 1 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 2 to Aug 1 | Jun 12 to Jul 13 |
| Pepper, bell | Mar 30 to May 21 | May 11 to Jul 2 | — |
| Kale | Feb 4 to Mar 4 | Mar 18 to Apr 15 | Jul 13 to Aug 28 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 4 to Apr 15 | Jul 30 to Sep 17 |
St. Paul sits in Zone 5a, 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. Paul 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 55102 in about 60 seconds.