Sow What, Sow When?

The Garden Planting Calendar

Your vegetable planning guide for Peoria, IL Your frost-free growing season lasts 178 days. On average, your frost-free growing season starts Apr 19 and ends Oct 14. Your planting strategy: Cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be direct seeded into your garden around March 8, assuming the ground can be worked, but it's better to start them indoors around February 9 and then transplant them into the garden around March 30. Do the same with lettuce and spinach. Plant onion starts and potatoes around February 19. 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 9. Then, around April 15 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 19. 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. Okay, now here are the cold, hard numbers, along with specific plants: Crop Start seeds indoors Transplant seedlings into the garden Direct sow seeds Artichokes Jan 26 - Feb 17 Apr 19 - May 3 Asparagus Mar 5 - Mar 20 Beans Apr 19 - May 17 Beets Feb 23 - Mar 8 Broccoli Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Brussel Sprouts Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Cabbage Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Cantaloupe Apr 5 - Apr 19 Carrots Mar 8 - Apr 5 Cauliflower Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Chard Mar 8 - Mar 22 Collards Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Corn Apr 19 - May 3 Cucumbers Apr 19 - May 3 Eggplants Feb 9 - Feb 23 Apr 19 - May 3 Gourds, Squash and Pumpkins Apr 19 - May 3 Kale Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Kohlrabi Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Lettuce Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 8 - Apr 5 Mar 8 - Apr 5 Mustard Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Okra Apr 19 - May 3 Onions Feb 2 - Feb 9 Feb 19 - Mar 20 Peas (English) Feb 19 - Mar 20 Peas (Southern) Apr 19 - May 17 Peas (Sugar Snap) Feb 19 - Mar 20 Peppers Feb 9 - Feb 23 Apr 19 - May 3 Potatoes Feb 19 - Mar 20 Radishes Mar 5 - May 3 Spinach Feb 9 - Feb 23 Mar 22 - Apr 5 Mar 5 - Apr 5 Sweet Potatoes Mar 29 - Apr 12 Tomatoes Feb 9 - Feb 23 Apr 19 - May 3 Watermelon Apr 19 - May 3