Zone 4a planting calendar

What to plant in February: zone 4a

A rule-of-thumb starting point for zone 4a: last spring frost around May 20, first fall frost around September 20. Zones are set by winter lows, not frost dates, so two gardens in the same zone can be weeks apart. Measure your ZIP below for dates from your area's own 30-year record.

These are zone-average dates. Check an area-level frost estimate from thirty years of nearby weather history and this calendar retimes itself.
Typical last frost: May 20
Typical first frost: September 20
Winter lows: -30 to -25 °F
Zone 4a Almanac. What growers here actually recorded: sowing weeks, days to first pick, and yields.

Plan & order

  • Map this year's beds2 sowings: Feb 4 and Feb 11

    Rotate families off last year's ground. Nightshades, brassicas and cucurbits each move to a new bed. Sowing again a few weeks later keeps the harvest coming instead of arriving all at once.

Dormant care

  • Sharpen and oil toolsaround Feb 18

    Clean, sharpen and oil blades while there's time. Dull tools bruise plants and slow you down.

Start indoors

  • Sow microgreens indoorsaround Feb 25

    A tray on the windowsill gives you a cut of fresh greens every 10-14 days through the cold months.

Direct sow

  • Rutabagaaround Feb 25

    Soil is ready 12 weeks before last frost.

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