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All Garden Articles Planning Your Vegetable Garden Location of the Vegetable Garden Placement of Vegetables in Your Garden What to Grow in Your Vegetable Garden Online Seed Catalogues Recommended Tomato Plants When to Plant Direct Sown Vegetable Seeds When to Start Vegetables from Transplants

Many people ask us "When do I plant my vegetable seeds?" and "when should I plant my transplants outside?" A large part of this question is determined by the growing zone you live in and your average frost date.

We've put together a table showing not only when you should start vegetables seeds indoors but also when you should move the plants outside. You can look at our other chart for direct sown vegetables. There is a key at the bottom of this page for the columns in the table.

When to Start Vegetables from Transplants

When to Start Vegetables from Transplants

Veggie	Start Seeds	Transplant	Plant Spacing	Row Spacing	Time to Harvest
Brussel Sprout	4 Weeks	Summer	24"	24"	90 Days
Cabbage	8 Weeks	Before	15"	24"	75 Days
Cauliflower	12 Weeks	At	18"	18"	70 Days
Eggplant	8 Weeks	After	18"	24"	70 Days
Peppers, Hot	8 Weeks	After	18"	18"	70 Days
Peppers, Sweet	8 Weeks	After	18"	18"	70 Days
Tomatillos	8 Weeks	After	24"	24"	70 Days
Tomatoes	8 Weeks	After	24"	24"	70 Days
Melon	4 Weeks	After	18"	48"	85 Days

Start Seeds

The "Start Seeds" column of the When to Start Vegetables from Transplants table relates to how soon you should start the seeds indoors before the transplanting time.

Transplant

The "Transplant" column references the frost date. Vegetables with "Before" can planted as soon as the soil is workable and can handle frost just fine. Vegetables with "At" should be planted around your frost date and can handle a light frost. Vegetables with "After" should be planted after the frost date since a frost will kill them. Vegetables with "Summer" normally do best when planted in the summer for a fall harvest.

Plant Spacing

The "Plant Spacing" column of the table tells you how far apart you should plant the seeds in each row.

Row Spacing

The "Row Spacing" column tells you how far apart your rows should be from each other.

Time to Harvest

The "Time to Harvest" column of the When to Plant Vegetable Seeds table shows the average time from planting to harvesting for that type of vegetable.