Spring in Arkansas brings warm days, cool nights, and plenty of opportunities to get your vegetable garden underway. To help you plan your planting schedule and maximize the season’s bounty, here are some guidelines for when to plant vegetables in Arkansas:
Early Spring (late February/early March): Planting can begin as early as late February or early March. This is the time to start sowing hardy cool-season vegetables like onions, spinach, lettuce, beets, carrots, and kale.
Mid-Spring (April): You can also begin planting warm-season crops such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squash, melons, and cucumbers in mid-spring. It’s also a good time to start planting annual flowers like marigolds and zinnias.
Late Spring (May): Planting should continue in late spring with vegetables such as beans, sweet corn, okra, potatoes, and cabbage. You can also sow biennials such as carrots and beets. This is a great time to add perennials such as daisies and daylilies to your garden.
When planting any type of vegetable, be sure to follow the recommended planting dates and spacing for each variety. Also, keep in mind the frost zones for Arkansas. Depending on the zone you live in, the last frost can be as early as March 20th, or as late as April 2oth.
Here are a few more resources to help you out for the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
Planting Dates for Arkansas Spring & Summer Vegetables
Planting & Maintaining a Vegetable Garden
Vegetable Guides & Fact Sheets
Stop by your local Farmer’s Cooperative store for your spring garden plants, fertilizers, soil, compost, and more. We have everything your need to get your garden off to a strong start.
With a little planning, you can have a flourishing vegetable garden in no time! Good luck with your spring planting!