Garden Planning + Seed Starting Dates for Zone 5 Growers

Planning out our garden for ultimate productivity and helping to maximize growth is always a huge priority for me. This guide & list are helpful to staying on track with important seed starting dates for zone 5 growers.

This post has been updated from its original publish date of December 29, 2017. It has been updated to provide better photos, additional helpful information and step by step instructions.

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It may seem like the hustle and bustle of the summer is a distant memory. And even though the cold of winter is brutal, I’m talking below zero brutal. It doesn’t slow most of us homesteaders down.

Currently we are busy playing catch up with indoor & outdoor projects, and planning our homestead goals for the new year. Oh, and we are also in the middle of our kidding season. Which will be followed by calving. And then long hours outdoors gardening.

The cycle never ends.

But this crazy homestead life is worth it all.

How to Plan a Garden in Zone 5

We have a medium growing season and these dates will vary slightly. One huge lesson that I’ve learned during my time in Nebraska is that the weather can be unpredictable. So, its always important to pay attention to weather updates.

I took my chances last year and started our garden a little early. You know what happened, we got a totally random snow storm in the middle of May! It wasn’t a complete loss, but I should have been more patient and waited a bit.

How I plan the garden year

At the beginning of each year, I print off blank calendar pages for the entire year. Then I sit down to plan with my garden journal, my seed inventory, all of those beautiful seed catalogs that came in the mail, pen and the printed calendar pages.

Nearly everything you need is listed on the back of those seed packages!

From here, I sit down and plan what is going in which raised bed and when to start the seeds.

I mark the the last and first frost dates on the blank calendar sheets and count backwards for when to start our spring & summer gardens. I do this again for the fall garden once I have gotten our summer garden established.

Where to buy seeds

Our top choice for garden seeds is High Mowing Organic Seeds (which we are now almost exclusively using). We’ve had so much success with this company and will continue to recommend them to all!

We have also shopped at a few places like Botanical Interests, Seed Savers, Baker Creek, Johnny’s, and Siskiyou with a lot of success over the years. So they’re definitely solid choices as well.

In this post, I shared some of our favorite varieties of plants that we have grown.

Updated: because some of you have asked! For my garden journal, I’m using a simple Moleskine Notebook (XXL, Dotted, Black Hard Cover in size 8.5 x 11)

On average in hardiness zone 5 our last/first frost dates are:

Last Frost Date: May 15

First Frost Date: October 15

And remember, these dates shared in this post are averages. They can fluctuate slightly based on the weather.

Soil temperatures can also effect seed starting and sometimes there’s still snow on the ground during the recommended transplant dates. Use this guide as a reference or planning tool.

Not sure of your hardiness zone? Click here to find out!

In order for me to stay organized, I break my plans down by what I can seed start indoors and what I can direct sow in my garden.

I’ve included both summer and fall garden start dates in this post.

Direct garden sowing in zone 5

Whether its a summer or fall garden, these varieties thrive best when they’re started outdoors or directly sown after that last frost date.

Succesion Planting

These vegetables are perfect for succession planting. By staggering planting or planting again after harvesting, you can set yourself up for bountiful crops all throughout the season.