A seasonal checklist and calendar
Turn your frost dates into a weekly garden plan
Choose a starting season, check planting and clearing windows, and turn your local frost dates into weekly tasks and a calendar.
1. Start with local dates and a real planting day
Have your local last spring frost, first fall frost and intended care-start date ready. Frost dates are estimates, so soil temperature, the forecast and the seed packet still decide when to plant.
No reliable dates yet? Choose Relative dates only inside a plan. You can still use the layout and before/after-frost windows; calendar export needs dated inputs.
2. Choose the season you want to work through
3. Check the changeovers, then export
- Enter every frost date you intend to use, confirm the date basis and select Apply changes.
- Read From planting to clearing. If a crop has too little time, change the planting, use a faster suitable cultivar or drop a later phase.
- Download Calendar (.ics) for your adjusted dates, or print the full weekly checklist. The calendar contains planning windows, not weather alerts.
- Check off completed weeks and use the season journal to record actual planting, harvest and clearing. Save a JSON backup if you want to keep a separate copy.
See a dated example before you begin
This fall example starts on 2027-07-01 and uses 2027-10-15 as the first fall frost. These are sample dates, not a forecast for your location.
| Stage | Estimated window |
|---|---|
| Direct sow | 2027-07-19 to 2027-08-02 |
| Check harvest readiness | 2027-09-02 to 2027-10-14 |
| Clear and review the planting | 2027-10-14 to 2027-10-14 |
The weekly plan continues through cleanup. Before planting a successor, confirm that the previous crop has actually left the space.
Download example fall calendarFor your own dates, open “Plant a fall crop” above, apply your inputs, then download from that plan.
Why these checks matter
Fall planting needs enough time before local frost, with different cold tolerance and maturity times for each crop. Minnesota’s regional dates are not used as your local dates here. Clearing the preceding crop is part of the changeover.
University of Minnesota Extension: planting vegetables for fall harvest