Zone 5b planting calendar

What to plant in December: zone 5b

A rule-of-thumb starting point for zone 5b: last spring frost around May 5, first fall frost around October 5. 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 5
Typical first frost: October 5
Winter lows: -15 to -10 °F
Zone 5b Almanac. What growers here actually recorded: sowing weeks, days to first pick, and yields.

A quiet month in zone 5b

December is a rest-and-plan month here. Use it to order seed, test your soil, repair beds, and map next season's rotation, then jump ahead to January.

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