Sevier County · Zone 5 · 5,300 ft

What to plant, month by month, in this exact valley.

Not a national chart with our zone highlighted — a calendar for the soil, elevation, and short season we actually farm. Late-May last frost, late-September first frost, and everything that fits in between.

Set your own frost date →Browse the how-to guides

The year, in order

Twelve months. One honest schedule.

The highlighted card is this month — start there.

January

Planning season

Start indoors: Nothing yet — resist the urge
Outside: Nothing. The ground is frozen and so are we
Farm chores: Order seed before the good varieties sell out · Sketch the garden on paper — rotation matters more than ambition · Sharpen, oil, and actually put away the tools from November

The garden is asleep. This is the month for coffee and graph paper.

February

First seeds move

Start indoors: Onions and leeks (late Feb) — they need the head start · Celery, if you must
Outside: Still frozen. Still no.
Farm chores: Test old seed on a damp paper towel · Set up lights — a windowsill is not enough at this latitude

Onions started now make bulbs in August. Onions started in April make regrets.

March

Indoor season opens

Start indoors: Broccoli, cabbage, kale, cauliflower (early March) · Lettuce and other greens · Perennial herbs — rosemary, thyme, sage
Outside: Peas, late March, under row cover if the valley is feeling generous
Farm chores: Top-dress beds with compost as soon as soil works · Prune fruit trees before bud break — see the pruning guide

High-desert March lies. One warm week means nothing. Trust the calendar, not the weather.

April

The big indoor month

Start indoors: Tomatoes (early April — 6 to 8 weeks before transplant) · Peppers and eggplant (early April, they are slower than you think) · Squash and cucumbers (late April, they are faster than you think)
Outside: Carrots, beets, spinach, radishes (mid-April) · Potatoes (late April) · More peas, more lettuce
Farm chores: Set up drip lines before you need them · Harden off the March brassicas

Yes, your neighbor already planted tomatoes outside. Your neighbor replants them every year.

May

Hold the line

Start indoors: Succession lettuce · A second round of cucumbers for late summer
Outside: Transplant brassicas (early May) · Direct sow corn and beans (late May) · Transplant tomatoes, peppers, squash — AFTER the last frost, typically the last week of May
Farm chores: Harden everything off — a week outside in shade before the ground · Watch the forecast like it owes you money

Our average last frost is around the last week of May. "Average" means it has come later. Memorial Day is the traditional tomato weekend in this valley for a reason.

June

This month

Everything goes in

Start indoors: Done. Shut the lights off.
Outside: Finish transplanting warm-season crops (first week) · Direct sow melons, winter squash, more beans · Succession sow lettuce somewhere shaded
Farm chores: Mulch everything — the sun is about to get serious · Stake tomatoes now, not after they sprawl

The whole garden goes from empty to full in three weeks. Pace yourself. Hydrate.

July

Water and hold

Start indoors: —
Outside: Succession beets and carrots (mid-July) for fall harvest · Last call for bush beans
Farm chores: Deep, infrequent watering beats daily sprinkles · Harvest in the morning before the heat takes the crunch out of everything

July is not a planting month so much as a keeping-things-alive month. That counts as gardening.

August

The fall garden starts now

Start indoors: —
Outside: Transplant fall broccoli and cabbage (early August) · Sow spinach, lettuce, radishes (late August) — they finish in the cool · Sow cover crops in anything you have pulled
Farm chores: Keep up with the harvest or the zucchini wins · Note what worked. You will not remember in January. Write it down.

The second season is shorter and kinder than the first. Most people skip it. Most people are missing out.

September

Race the frost

Start indoors: —
Outside: Last spinach sowings under cover · Order garlic if you have not
Farm chores: First frost typically lands late September here — have covers ready · Pick everything tender the night a frost warning posts · Green tomatoes ripen fine in a box in the garage

The first frost is not a tragedy. It is a deadline, and deadlines get things picked.

October

Garlic month

Start indoors: —
Outside: Plant garlic (mid-October) — the single best thing you can plant this month · Spring bulbs, while you are kneeling there anyway
Farm chores: Pull spent plants, compost the clean ones, trash the diseased ones · Empty and store drip lines before a hard freeze splits them

Garlic planted in October is the easiest crop of next year. It asks for nothing and shows up anyway.

November

Tuck it in

Start indoors: —
Outside: Mulch the garlic bed · Mulch perennials and young fruit trees after the ground cools
Farm chores: Drain hoses, shut off irrigation · Clean tools once, properly, instead of regretting it in March

A garden put away well in November is a garden that starts itself in April.

December

Eat your work

Start indoors: —
Outside: —
Farm chores: Eat what you stored · Read the new seed catalogs with appropriate suspicion · Tell people at family dinners about your soil. They love that.

The modern food system has a funny way of naming things. The old way of naming December was "the month you eat what you grew." We kept that one.

Why our dates look conservative

Because the valley does not care about your enthusiasm.

We farm at roughly 5,300 feet. Spring arrives late, leaves early, and occasionally comes back in June to check on things. Every date on this page comes from growing here — not from a chart built for a valley two zones warmer.

If your garden sits higher than the valley floor, add a week of caution on each end. If you want the schedule rebuilt around your own frost date, the interactive frost calendar redraws every crop’s window in real time.

Asked every spring

Planting questions, answered plainly.

What growing zone is Sevier County, Utah?

Most of the Sevier Valley sits in USDA zone 5 (5a to 5b depending on your exact spot and elevation). The valley floor around Richfield, Elsinore, and Monroe is roughly 5,300 feet, which means a short season — typically late May to late September frost-to-frost.

When is the last frost in central Utah?

In the Sevier Valley the average last spring frost lands in the last week of May, but "average" is doing a lot of work in that sentence. Locals plant tomatoes Memorial Day weekend for a reason. Keep row covers handy through early June.

When should I plant tomatoes in Utah zone 5?

Start them indoors in early April, six to eight weeks before transplant. Move them outside after the last frost — for the Sevier Valley that means the last week of May or the first week of June. Planting earlier into cold soil does not buy you earlier tomatoes; it buys you sulking plants.

What can I still plant in late summer in Utah?

More than most people think. Fall broccoli and cabbage transplants go in early August; spinach, lettuce, and radishes sown in late August finish nicely in the September cool. Garlic goes in mid-October for harvest the following July.

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