Syracuse, NY · zone 5b · ~170 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Syracuse.
In Syracuse, the typical last spring frost lands around Apr 30 and the first fall frost around Oct 17, giving you about 170 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 Syracuse, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Mar 26 to May 26 | May 7 to Jul 7 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Mar 23 to May 7 | Aug 3 to Oct 2 |
| Carrot | — | Mar 23 to Apr 25 | Jul 22 to Aug 17 |
| Bush Bean | — | Apr 30 to Jun 20 | Jul 3 to Aug 5 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | May 7 to Aug 6 | Jun 16 to Jul 17 |
| Pepper, bell | Apr 4 to May 26 | May 16 to Jul 7 | — |
| Kale | Feb 9 to Mar 9 | Mar 23 to Apr 20 | Jul 17 to Sep 1 |
| Spinach | — | Mar 9 to Apr 20 | Aug 3 to Sep 21 |
Syracuse 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 Syracuse 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 13202 in about 60 seconds.