When to plant Arugula
Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.
Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.
Representative timing, by climate band
When to plant Arugula in four US climates
Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.
| Stage |
Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY |
Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN |
Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start seed indoors | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Direct-sow outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Transplant outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Fall planting | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Expected harvest | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a tender crop. In climates like this one, tender and very-tender crops typically go in before the hottest months arrive, not on a frost-relative schedule.
Arugula carries no weeks-before-or-after-frost figure on this page, and that is not a gap in what we hold, it is what the two sources actually publish. NC State Extension's planting calendar (AG-756-01) and Clemson Cooperative Extension's Arugula, Kale, Mesclun, Mustard, and Swiss Chard factsheet (HGIC 1320) both give calendar dates instead of a frost offset: NC State runs February 1 through March 15 for a spring planting and August 1 through October 15 for fall, and Clemson gives its own South Carolina regional dates.
Clemson states plainly that arugula is not tolerant of frost, harvest it before freezing weather arrives, which is the basis for classifying it a tender crop here. That sentence is the extent of the frost guidance either source gives; neither publishes the two-or-more-weeks-style rule this page states for a crop like tomato, so the direct-sow and transplant week fields are left blank rather than filled with an offset neither extension service printed.
Expect 40 to 60 days to harvest, combining NC State's 40-to-50-day figure with Clemson's 45 to 60. In a cold-winter climate that window works as an early-spring planting, then again an early-fall one, skipping the heat of summer; in a warm-winter climate arugula behaves more like a true winter crop, planted in the cool months Clemson's South Carolina dates describe rather than around a spring frost at all.
Arugula is a direct-seed crop at the nursery, sold as seed packets rather than as starts, since it germinates and matures fast enough that transplanting rarely pays off. Look for it in the seed racks in both early spring and again in mid-to-late summer for a fall sowing.
Frost hardiness
Tender. Damaged or killed by frost. Plant after the last frost date.
Days to maturity
40–60
Sourcing notes
Clemson is explicit that arugula is "not tolerant of frost" (harvest before freezing arrives), giving the tender classification, but neither Clemson nor NCSU gives a weeks-before/after-last-frost planting rule - both give only calendar dates (NCSU: Feb1-Mar15 & Aug1-Oct15; Clemson SC regional dates). Left the direct-sow/transplant and fall-weeks fields blank rather than infer a number not actually stated. DTM: NCSU 40-50, Clemson 45-60 - combined range.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
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Sources
- Clemson Cooperative Extension Home & Garden Information Center, Arugula, Kale, Mesclun, Mustard, and Swiss Chard (HGIC 1320) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- NC State Extension, Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (AG-756-01) (accessed 2026-08-04)