Planting calendar

Zone 9 Planting Calendar: What to Plant Each Month

Last updated July 31, 2026

Zone 9 at a glance

Zone 9 runs winter lows of 20 to 30°F, and is conventionally taken to average its last spring frost around February 20 and its first fall frost around December 10 — about 293 frost-free days. Nearly year-round growing, with an inverted calendar: winter is the prime season for greens and root crops, summer is the hard part.

Sow frost-tolerant crops (peas, spinach, radishes, lettuce, kale, carrots) 6 to 2 weeks before February 20. Plant warm-season crops (beans, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers) 1 to 3 weeks after it. Sow a second round of greens and roots about 10 to 12 weeks before December 10.

Typical regions in zone 9: Houston, Orlando, Phoenix, coastal Southern California.

Month by month in zone 9

11 of the 12 months have something to plant in zone 9. Rows marked re-sow are succession sowings — the same crop planted again every 14 days for a continuous harvest, up to the last date it can still mature before December 10.

January

Crop	What to do	Window
Cucumber	Start indoors	January 23 - January 30
Kale	Start indoors	January 9 - January 23
Tomato	Start indoors	December 26 - January 9
Carrot	Direct sow outdoors	January 30 - February 6
Kale	Direct sow outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Lettuce (leaf)	Direct sow outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Peas	Direct sow outdoors	January 9 - January 23
Radish	Direct sow outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Spinach	Direct sow outdoors	January 9 - January 23
Onion	Transplant outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

February

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Direct sow outdoors	February 27 - March 6
Carrot	Direct sow outdoors	January 30 - February 6
Kale	Direct sow outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Lettuce (leaf)	Direct sow outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Radish	Direct sow outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Onion	Transplant outdoors	January 23 - February 6
Tomato	Transplant outdoors	February 27 - March 6
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

March

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Direct sow outdoors	February 27 - March 6
Cucumber	Direct sow outdoors	March 6 - March 13
Zucchini	Direct sow outdoors	March 6 - March 13
Pepper	Transplant outdoors	March 6 - March 13
Tomato	Transplant outdoors	February 27 - March 6
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

April

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

May

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

June

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 7

July

Crop	What to do	Window
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 7

August

Crop	What to do	Window
Carrot	Direct sow for a fall crop	August 24 - September 7
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Carrot	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 7
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days may bolt in heat	last sowing October 7

September

Crop	What to do	Window
Carrot	Direct sow for a fall crop	August 24 - September 7
Kale	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 8 - September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 18 - October 2
Peas	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 3 - September 17
Spinach	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 23 - October 7
Bush beans	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 27
Kale	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing September 22
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

October

Crop	What to do	Window
Lettuce (leaf)	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 18 - October 2
Radish	Direct sow for a fall crop	October 13 - October 27
Spinach	Direct sow for a fall crop	September 23 - October 7
Lettuce (leaf)	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 2
Radish	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 27
Spinach	Re-sow every 14 days	last sowing October 7

December

Crop	What to do	Window
Onion	Start indoors	December 12 - December 26
Pepper	Start indoors	December 12 - December 26
Tomato	Start indoors	December 26 - January 9

Nothing to sow outdoors in November in zone 9. Crops already in the ground keep growing and keep being harvested. Use the time to plan beds, order seed, build a compost pile, or start long-season crops under a light indoors.

Every crop, sowing to harvest

One row per crop, with the indoor start where it applies, the outdoor planting window, the second fall sowing where the season allows it, and the earliest realistic harvest.

Harvest dates assume the earliest outdoor planting in the window and the crop's published days-to-harvest range. Weather moves all of it.
Crop	Start indoors	Plant outdoors	Fall sowing	Re-sow until	Harvest from
Radish	-	Direct sow outdoors: January 23 - February 6	October 13 - October 27	October 27	February 14 - February 22
Lettuce (leaf)	-	Direct sow outdoors: January 23 - February 6	September 18 - October 2	October 2	March 9 - March 19
Spinach	-	Direct sow outdoors: January 9 - January 23	September 23 - October 7	October 7	February 18 - February 28
Bush beans	-	Direct sow outdoors: February 27 - March 6	-	September 27	April 18 - April 28
Zucchini	-	Direct sow outdoors: March 6 - March 13	-	-	April 20 - April 30
Kale	January 9 - January 23	Direct sow outdoors: January 23 - February 6	September 8 - September 22	September 22	March 14 - March 29
Peas	-	Direct sow outdoors: January 9 - January 23	September 3 - September 17	-	March 10 - March 20
Carrot	-	Direct sow outdoors: January 30 - February 6	August 24 - September 7	September 7	April 5 - April 20
Cucumber	January 23 - January 30	Direct sow outdoors: March 6 - March 13	-	-	April 30 - May 10
Tomato	December 26 - January 9	Transplant outdoors: February 27 - March 6	-	-	April 28 - May 23
Pepper	December 12 - December 26	Transplant outdoors: March 6 - March 13	-	-	May 15 - June 4
Onion	December 12 - December 26	Transplant outdoors: January 23 - February 6	-	-	May 3 - May 23

Growing in zone 9

Nearly year-round growing, with an inverted calendar: winter is the prime season for greens and root crops, summer is the hard part.

Soil beats calendar. Extension guidance for the hardiest crops is “as soon as the soil can be worked” or “as soon as the soil thaws” — not a fixed date. If you cannot crumble a handful of soil in your fist, wait, whatever the table says. Warm-season crops have a matching rule: beans want 60°F soil, cucumbers and squash 70°F.

Heat is your limiting factor, not frost. With 293 frost-free days, the hard part of the zone 9 year is midsummer. Lettuce and spinach bolt bitter above 80°F, so move them to autumn and late winter rather than fighting July. The fall sowing dates above are the important ones here.

About the bolting warnings. Cool-season crops run to seed and turn bitter in summer heat. The “may bolt in heat” flag above is a rough calendar rule — mid-June to the start of September, the same window across the whole country — because a hardiness zone carries no summer-temperature information at all. In zone 9 treat it as understated; your hot spell starts earlier and runs later, and heat-tolerant varieties plus afternoon shade matter.

Where these dates come from. A USDA hardiness zone describes average annual extreme minimum WINTER temperature — it is a winter-survival rating for perennials, not a frost-date band. The frost dates below are widely-used approximations for each zone, not official USDA figures, and a single zone spans hundreds of miles. Treat them as a default guess and replace them with your own local averages wherever you have them.

You can enter your own frost dates in the interactive calendar and every window on it recalculates from your numbers. Look up your local averages on the NOAA last-spring-freeze map. Note that an “average” frost date is the point where the chance of freezing drops below 50 percent, so for tender crops it is worth waiting a week or two past it.

Other zones: zone 3 , zone 4 , zone 5 , zone 6 , zone 7 , zone 8 , zone 10 . Or use the interactive calendar to check a single month.

Zone 9 questions

When is the last frost in zone 9?

Zone 9 is conventionally taken to average its last spring frost around February 20 and its first fall frost around December 10, giving roughly 293 frost-free days. Be aware that a hardiness zone is defined by winter minimum temperature, not by frost dates — these are widely-used approximations, not official USDA figures. Get your real dates from the NOAA freeze-date map or your county cooperative extension office.

What can I plant now in zone 9?

Use the month-by-month table on this page. The pattern is: frost-tolerant crops like peas, spinach and radishes go in 6 to 2 weeks before February 20; warm-season crops like beans, zucchini and tomatoes go in 1 to 3 weeks after it; and cool-season crops get a second sowing about 10 to 12 weeks before December 10.

Can I grow tomatoes in zone 9?

Yes. In zone 9, start tomato seed indoors 6 to 8 weeks before February 20 or buy a seedling, then transplant 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost once nights stay above 50°F. With 293 frost-free days there is comfortable room for any variety, including large beefsteak types.

How many harvests can I get in zone 9?

Two to three rounds a year, with the cool-season crops moved to autumn and late winter rather than midsummer, when heat rather than frost becomes the limiting factor.

Does a raised bed change these dates in zone 9?

Yes, in spring. A raised bed warms 2 to 3 weeks earlier than open ground, so you can bring the early sowings forward by up to two weeks. Autumn dates are unchanged, since the first frost arrives on the same day regardless of your setup.