When to Plant Vegetables in Springfield, MO

Your vegetable planning guide for Springfield, MO

On average, your frost-free growing season starts Apr 15 and ends Oct 21, totalling 189 days. You will find both Spring and Fall planting guides on this page.

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For the Spring:
Your Spring Planting Strategy
Cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be direct seeded into your garden around March 4, assuming the ground can be worked, but it's better to start them indoors around February 5 and then transplant them into the garden around March 26. Do the same with lettuce and spinach.

Plant onion starts and potatoes around February 15. Sow the seeds of peas (sugar snap and english) at the same time. If the ground is still frozen, then plant these as soon as the ground thaws.

Do you want to grow tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants? Start these indoors around February 5. Then, around April 11 you should start watching the weather forecast and, as soon as no frost is forecast, go ahead and transplant those into the ground.

Now, for all the summer vegetables like beans, cowpeas, corn, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, gourds and sunflowers, you should plant those seeds directly into the ground around April 15, or if your soil is still very cold, once the soil is near 60° F in temperature.

Okay, now here are the cold, hard numbers, along with specific plants:

Crop Sow seeds indoors Transplant seedlings into the garden Direct sow seeds
Asparagus n/a Mar 1 - Mar 16 n/a
Beans n/a n/a Apr 15 - May 13
Beets n/a n/a Feb 19 - Mar 4
Broccoli Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Brussel Sprouts Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Cabbage Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Cantaloupe n/a n/a Apr 1 - Apr 15
Carrots n/a n/a Mar 4 - Apr 1
Cauliflower Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Chard n/a n/a Mar 4 - Mar 18
Collards Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Corn n/a n/a Apr 15 - Apr 29
Cucumbers n/a n/a Apr 15 - Apr 29
Eggplants Feb 5 - Feb 19 Apr 15 - Apr 29 n/a
Gourds, Squash and Pumpkins n/a n/a Apr 15 - Apr 29
Kale Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Kohlrabi Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Lettuce Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 4 - Apr 1 Mar 4 - Apr 1
Mustard Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 n/a
Okra n/a n/a Apr 15 - Apr 29
Onions Jan 29 - Feb 5 Feb 15 - Mar 16 n/a
Peas (English) n/a n/a Feb 15 - Mar 16
Peas (Southern) n/a n/a Apr 15 - May 13
Peas (Sugar Snap) n/a n/a Feb 15 - Mar 16
Peppers Feb 5 - Feb 19 Apr 15 - Apr 29 n/a
Potatoes n/a n/a Feb 15 - Mar 16
Radishes n/a n/a Mar 1 - Apr 29
Spinach Feb 5 - Feb 19 Mar 18 - Apr 1 Mar 1 - Apr 1
Sweet Potatoes n/a Apr 15 - May 6 n/a
Tomatoes Feb 5 - Feb 19 Apr 15 - Apr 29 n/a
Watermelon n/a n/a Apr 15 - Apr 29

For the Fall:
Your Fall Planting Strategy
Gardening in the fall can be much more challenging than spring planting, because you are in a race to get your crops mature and harvested before the winter frosts begin, around October 21. This means you need to consider how much time each variety needs between planting and picking. Those numbers vary widely between different varieties of the same kinds of plants! Usually the "Days to Harvest" are present on the seed packet.

Most tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, for example, require around 100 days to harvest, therefore you'd want to transplant those into the ground around July 13. Anyway, it's important to remember that the numbers in this fall planting guide are only a starting point for you! Good luck and good gardening to you.

Fall is the time to plant garlic. Around September 6, take your cloves apart and plant the toes about 3 to 4 inches deep. This may not be accurate! Garlic dates vary wildly around the country. The way to be sure is to use a soil thermometer. When the soil temperature is 60° at a depth of 4 inches, then plant your garlic.

Cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be direct seeded into your garden around August 12, but because of the heat during that time of year, it's better to start them indoors around June 23 and then transplant them into the garden around August 2. Do the same with lettuce and spinach.

Sow peas directly around August 7.

Now, for all the usual hot weather veggies like beans, cowpeas, corn, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, gourds and sunflowers, you should plant those seeds directly into the ground around July 8.

Okay, now here are the cold, hard numbers, along with specific plants:

Crop Sow seeds indoors Transplant seedlings into the garden Direct sow seeds
Beans n/a n/a Jul 8 - Aug 7
Beets n/a n/a Aug 7 - Sep 21
Broccoli May 27 - Jul 11 Jul 8 - Aug 22 n/a
Brussel Sprouts May 27 - Jul 11 Jul 8 - Aug 22 n/a
Cabbage May 27 - Jul 11 Jul 8 - Aug 22 n/a
Cantaloupe n/a n/a Jun 23 - Jul 8
Carrots n/a n/a Jul 23 - Sep 21
Cauliflower May 27 - Jul 11 Jul 8 - Aug 22 n/a
Chard n/a n/a Jul 8 - Sep 21
Collards Jun 23 - Aug 7 Jul 23 - Sep 6 n/a
Corn n/a n/a Jul 8 - Jul 23
Cucumbers n/a n/a Jul 8 - Jul 23
Eggplants May 12 - May 27 Jun 23 - Jul 8 n/a
Garlic n/a n/a Aug 7 - Sep 21
Gourds, Squash and Pumpkins n/a n/a Jun 8 - Jul 8
Kale May 27 - Jul 11 Jul 8 - Aug 22 n/a
Kohlrabi May 27 - Jul 11 Jul 8 - Aug 22 n/a
Lettuce Jul 23 - Aug 22 Aug 22 - Sep 21 Aug 22 - Sep 21
Mustard n/a n/a Aug 22 - Sep 21
Okra n/a n/a Jun 8 - Jul 8
Onions n/a n/a Sep 21 - Oct 1
Parsley Jun 8 - Jul 23 Jul 23 - Sep 6 n/a
Peas (English) n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22
Peas (Southern) n/a n/a Jun 8 - Jul 8
Peas (Sugar Snap) n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22
Peppers May 17 - Jun 1 Jun 28 - Jul 13 n/a
Potatoes n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22
Radishes n/a n/a Aug 22 - Sep 21
Spinach Jul 8 - Aug 22 Aug 7 - Sep 21 Aug 7 - Sep 21
Tomatoes May 17 - Jun 1 Jun 28 - Jul 13 n/a
Turnips n/a n/a Sep 6 - Oct 6
Watermelon n/a n/a Jun 8 - Jul 8

How accurate is all this? For nearly all locations, we are confident in the dates. There are, however, some difficult areas of the world that don't match up perfectly with the dates we have given. For that reason, we recommend you use this guide as a very good starting place, but don't interpret the dates as absolutely perfect for every location.

Did you find this useful? Garden.org has a vast array of useful features. May we recommend that you take a look at our excellent food gardening guide?

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