📅 Seattle Planting Calendar
Month-by-month guide for USDA Zone 8b (Seattle / Puget Sound region). Last frost: ~April 15 · First frost: ~November 15
❄️ January
- • Plan your garden—order seeds from Territorial Seed Co (Cottage Grove, OR) or Uprising Seeds (Bellingham, WA)
- • Prune dormant fruit trees and roses
- • Start onion seeds indoors under grow lights
- • Clean and sharpen tools
🌱 February
- • Direct sow: peas, fava beans, spinach, radishes (if soil is workable)
- • Start indoors: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant
- • Prune blueberries and grapes
- • Apply dormant spray to fruit trees
- • Top-dress beds with compost
🌷 March
- • Direct sow: lettuce, carrots, beets, chard, kale, potatoes
- • Transplant: broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower starts
- • Start basil and cucumbers indoors
- • Divide perennials
- • Plant bare-root fruit trees, berries, and roses
🌧️ April
- • Transplant tomato and pepper starts (after mid-month, with protection)
- • Direct sow: beans (after soil reaches 60°F), more lettuce and greens
- • Start squash and cucumber seeds indoors
- • Plant strawberries
- • Apply organic slug bait (slugs are a PNW reality)
☀️ May
- • After last frost (~May 10): transplant tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil
- • Direct sow: beans, corn, cucumbers, summer squash
- • Mulch everything to conserve moisture
- • Set up drip irrigation if possible
- • Harden off seedlings before transplanting
🌻 June
- • Succession plant: lettuce, beans, beets
- • Harvest: peas, lettuce, radishes, strawberries
- • Side-dress tomatoes with compost or fish emulsion
- • Stake/cage tomatoes before they flop
- • Watch for aphids—blast with water or introduce ladybugs
🍅 July
- • Harvest: first tomatoes, beans, zucchini, blueberries, cucumbers
- • Plant fall crops: kale, broccoli, cabbage starts
- • Direct sow: fall beets, carrots, lettuce for fall
- • Water consistently—Seattle's dry summers surprise newcomers!
- • Harvest garlic when lower leaves brown
🌾 August
- • Peak harvest: tomatoes, squash, beans, corn, berries
- • Direct sow: overwintering crops (kale, spinach, chard)
- • Plant fall lettuce in succession
- • Start saving seeds from best performers
- • Enjoy the bounty! Preserve excess via canning, freezing, or sharing
🍂 September
- • Harvest winter squash when stems are dry and corky
- • Plant garlic (mid-Sep through Oct in PNW)
- • Sow cover crops (crimson clover, winter rye) in empty beds
- • Transplant fall starts: overwintering broccoli, cauliflower
- • Begin putting garden to bed—pull spent plants, compost
🎃 October
- • Plant garlic cloves (top priority for PNW fall gardening!)
- • Plant spring-blooming bulbs (tulips, daffodils, crocus)
- • Mulch overwintering crops heavily
- • Clean up fallen leaves—compost or use as mulch
- • Plant trees, shrubs, and perennials (fall is ideal in PNW)
🍃 November
- • Harvest: kale, chard, leeks, Brussels sprouts (sweeter after frost!)
- • Protect tender plants with row cover or cold frames
- • Rake and compost leaves—or mulch beds with leaf mold
- • Clean and store tools, drain hoses
- • Order seed catalogs and start dreaming about next year
🎄 December
- • Harvest overwintered greens as needed
- • Plan next year's garden layout (rotate crops!)
- • Browse seed catalogs: Territorial, Uprising, Adaptive Seeds, Nichols Garden
- • Give gardening gifts: seeds, tools, garden journal
- • Rest and compost—the garden is sleeping
💡 PNW Gardening Tips
- • Seattle's dry summers surprise newcomers — water consistently Jul–Sep
- • Slugs are a fact of life — organic slug bait (iron phosphate) is safe for pets
- • Fall is planting season for trees, shrubs, and perennials — roots establish over winter
- • Cover crops in empty beds prevent erosion during rainy winters
- • Buy local seeds from Territorial Seed, Uprising Seeds, or Adaptive Seeds for PNW-adapted varieties