Tucson, AZ · zone 8b · ~323 frost-free days
When to plant a garden in Tucson.
In Tucson, the typical last spring frost lands around Jan 25 and the first fall frost around Dec 14, giving you about 323 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 Tucson, keyed to your frost.
| Crop | Start indoors | Spring sow / set out | Fall sow |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tomato, slicing | Dec 21 to Feb 20 | Feb 1 to Apr 3 | — |
| Lettuce, leaf | — | Jan 1 to Feb 1 | Sep 30 to Nov 29 |
| Carrot | — | Jan 1 to Jan 20 | Sep 18 to Oct 14 |
| Bush Bean | — | Jan 25 to Mar 17 | Aug 30 to Oct 2 |
| Cucumber, slicing | — | Feb 1 to May 3 | Aug 13 to Sep 13 |
| Pepper, bell | Dec 30 to Feb 20 | Feb 10 to Apr 3 | — |
| Kale | Nov 20 to Dec 4 | Jan 1 to Jan 15 | Sep 13 to Oct 29 |
| Spinach | — | Jan 1 to Jan 15 | Sep 30 to Nov 18 |
Tucson sits in Zone 8b, 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 Tucson 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 85701 in about 60 seconds.