When to Plant Vegetables in Laredo, TX

Your vegetable planning guide for Laredo, TX

On average, your frost-free growing season starts Feb 9 and ends Dec 5, totalling 300 days. You will find both Spring and Fall planting guides on this page.

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For the Spring:
Your Spring Planting Strategy
Cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be direct seeded into your garden around December 29, assuming the ground can be worked, but it's better to start them indoors around December 1 and then transplant them into the garden around January 20. Do the same with lettuce and spinach.

Plant onion starts and potatoes around December 11. Sow the seeds of peas (sugar snap and english) at the same time. If the ground is still frozen, then plant these as soon as the ground thaws.

Do you want to grow tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants? Start these indoors around December 1. Then, around February 5 you should start watching the weather forecast and, as soon as no frost is forecast, go ahead and transplant those into the ground.

Now, for all the summer vegetables like beans, cowpeas, corn, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, gourds and sunflowers, you should plant those seeds directly into the ground around February 9, or if your soil is still very cold, once the soil is near 60° F in temperature.

Okay, now here are the cold, hard numbers, along with specific plants:

Crop Sow seeds indoors Transplant seedlings into the garden Direct sow seeds
Asparagus n/a Dec 26 - Jan 10 n/a
Beans n/a n/a Feb 9 - Mar 8
Beets n/a n/a Dec 15 - Dec 29
Broccoli Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Brussel Sprouts Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Cabbage Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Cantaloupe n/a n/a Jan 26 - Feb 9
Carrots n/a n/a Dec 29 - Jan 26
Cauliflower Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Chard n/a n/a Dec 29 - Jan 12
Collards Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Corn n/a n/a Feb 9 - Feb 23
Cucumbers n/a n/a Feb 9 - Feb 23
Eggplants Dec 1 - Dec 15 Feb 9 - Feb 23 n/a
Gourds, Squash and Pumpkins n/a n/a Feb 9 - Feb 23
Kale Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Kohlrabi Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Lettuce Dec 1 - Dec 15 Dec 29 - Jan 26 Dec 29 - Jan 26
Mustard Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 n/a
Okra n/a n/a Feb 9 - Feb 23
Onions Nov 24 - Dec 1 Dec 11 - Jan 10 n/a
Peas (English) n/a n/a Dec 11 - Jan 10
Peas (Southern) n/a n/a Feb 9 - Mar 8
Peas (Sugar Snap) n/a n/a Dec 11 - Jan 10
Peppers Dec 1 - Dec 15 Feb 9 - Feb 23 n/a
Potatoes n/a n/a Dec 11 - Jan 10
Radishes n/a n/a Dec 26 - Feb 23
Spinach Dec 1 - Dec 15 Jan 12 - Jan 26 Dec 26 - Jan 26
Sweet Potatoes n/a Feb 9 - Mar 1 n/a
Tomatoes Dec 1 - Dec 15 Feb 9 - Feb 23 n/a
Watermelon n/a n/a Feb 9 - Feb 23

For the Fall:
Your Fall Planting Strategy
Gardening in the fall can be much more challenging than spring planting, because you are in a race to get your crops mature and harvested before the winter frosts begin, around December 5. This means you need to consider how much time each variety needs between planting and picking. Those numbers vary widely between different varieties of the same kinds of plants! Usually the "Days to Harvest" are present on the seed packet.

Most tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, for example, require around 100 days to harvest, therefore you'd want to transplant those into the ground around August 27. Anyway, it's important to remember that the numbers in this fall planting guide are only a starting point for you! Good luck and good gardening to you.

Fall is the time to plant garlic. Around October 21, take your cloves apart and plant the toes about 3 to 4 inches deep. This may not be accurate! Garlic dates vary wildly around the country. The way to be sure is to use a soil thermometer. When the soil temperature is 60° at a depth of 4 inches, then plant your garlic.

Cole crops like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage can be direct seeded into your garden around September 26, but because of the heat during that time of year, it's better to start them indoors around August 7 and then transplant them into the garden around September 16. Do the same with lettuce and spinach.

Sow peas directly around September 21.

Now, for all the usual hot weather veggies like beans, cowpeas, corn, squashes, pumpkins, cucumbers, watermelons, gourds and sunflowers, you should plant those seeds directly into the ground around August 22.

Okay, now here are the cold, hard numbers, along with specific plants:

Crop Sow seeds indoors Transplant seedlings into the garden Direct sow seeds
Beans n/a n/a Aug 22 - Sep 21
Beets n/a n/a Sep 21 - Nov 5
Broccoli Jul 11 - Aug 25 Aug 22 - Oct 6 n/a
Brussel Sprouts Jul 11 - Aug 25 Aug 22 - Oct 6 n/a
Cabbage Jul 11 - Aug 25 Aug 22 - Oct 6 n/a
Cantaloupe n/a n/a Aug 7 - Aug 22
Carrots n/a n/a Sep 6 - Nov 5
Cauliflower Jul 11 - Aug 25 Aug 22 - Oct 6 n/a
Chard n/a n/a Aug 22 - Nov 5
Collards Aug 7 - Sep 21 Sep 6 - Oct 21 n/a
Corn n/a n/a Aug 22 - Sep 6
Cucumbers n/a n/a Aug 22 - Sep 6
Eggplants Jun 26 - Jul 11 Aug 7 - Aug 22 n/a
Garlic n/a n/a Sep 21 - Nov 5
Gourds, Squash and Pumpkins n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22
Kale Jul 11 - Aug 25 Aug 22 - Oct 6 n/a
Kohlrabi Jul 11 - Aug 25 Aug 22 - Oct 6 n/a
Lettuce Sep 6 - Oct 6 Oct 6 - Nov 5 Oct 6 - Nov 5
Mustard n/a n/a Oct 6 - Nov 5
Okra n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22
Onions n/a n/a Nov 5 - Nov 15
Parsley Jul 23 - Sep 6 Sep 6 - Oct 21 n/a
Peas (English) n/a n/a Sep 6 - Oct 6
Peas (Southern) n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22
Peas (Sugar Snap) n/a n/a Sep 6 - Oct 6
Peppers Jul 1 - Jul 16 Aug 12 - Aug 27 n/a
Potatoes n/a n/a Sep 6 - Oct 6
Radishes n/a n/a Oct 6 - Nov 5
Spinach Aug 22 - Oct 6 Sep 21 - Nov 5 Sep 21 - Nov 5
Tomatoes Jul 1 - Jul 16 Aug 12 - Aug 27 n/a
Turnips n/a n/a Oct 21 - Nov 20
Watermelon n/a n/a Jul 23 - Aug 22

How accurate is all this? For nearly all locations, we are confident in the dates. There are, however, some difficult areas of the world that don't match up perfectly with the dates we have given. For that reason, we recommend you use this guide as a very good starting place, but don't interpret the dates as absolutely perfect for every location.

Did you find this useful? Garden.org has a vast array of useful features. May we recommend that you take a look at our excellent food gardening guide?

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