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When to plant Spinach

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 Spinach 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 Apr 8–Apr 22 Mar 10–Mar 24 Jan 27–Feb 10 –
Transplant outside Not available Not available Not available –
Fall planting Aug 11–Sep 8 Sep 4–Oct 2 Nov 3–Dec 1 –
Expected harvest May 18–Jun 21 Apr 19–May 23 Mar 8–Apr 11 –

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 hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.

Spinach goes into the ground two to four weeks before your last frost. Colorado State University Extension's hardy-crop rule (Fact Sheet 7.212) states that window directly, and its 40°F minimum soil temperature is the figure used here, though Purdue Extension's Table 3 (HO-186-W) gives a slightly lower 35°F for spinach, a minor disagreement noted rather than resolved in one direction.

Days to maturity run 40 to 60, a range built from Colorado State, Virginia Cooperative Extension, NC State Extension, Missouri Extension, and Purdue together, which cluster closely enough that no single source stands out from the rest.

Spinach also takes a fall planting, four to eight weeks before your first fall frost, per Purdue's explicit fall list, which names spinach directly. Because spinach is hardy and tolerant of a cold soil floor either way, a cold-winter climate supports both the spring and fall windows comfortably; a mild-winter climate can often grow spinach through the cooler months as close to a continuous crop.

Spinach is a direct-seed crop at the nursery, sold as seed rather than as transplants, for both the spring and fall windows above.

Frost hardiness

Hardy. Tolerates hard frost. Can go in the ground before the last frost date.

Minimum soil temperature

40°F

For direct sowing/germination, where an Extension source stated it.

Days to maturity

40–60

Sourcing notes

From direct seed. CSU hardy rule -4,-2wk used. CSU gives min soil temp 40F; PURDUE Table 3 gives 35F for spinach - minor disagreement, noted, used CSU's crop-specific figure. Fall figure (4-8wk before first fall frost) is PURDUE's explicit fall rule, which lists spinach by name.

Related crops

Growing zones for this crop

Nurseries near these locations

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Sources