When to Plant in Atlanta, GA: Planting Calendar & Frost Dates

For ZIP 30303 in Atlanta, the nearest NOAA weather station with freeze records is Atlanta Fulton County Airport (NOAA name: Atlanta Fulton Co Airport, GA), 7.8 miles away. Its median last spring frost (32°F, NOAA 1991–2020) is Mar 24 and its median first fall frost is Nov 8, leaving about 229 frost-free days. ZIP 30303 is in USDA hardiness zone 8a. The last frost here comes the same day as the zone 8 median (Mar 24), and the season is 2 days shorter than the zone’s typical 231 days. Across Georgia’s 751 ZIP codes with frost dates, the median last frost is Mar 23, so Atlanta’s comes 1 day later than that.

Station and dates: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020, 32°F at 50% probability, for the station nearest the center of ZIP 30303. Zone: 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (PRISM data by ZIP code). Outside Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Virginia the planner uses the nearest NOAA station with freeze data, which can be at a different elevation from your yard.

Key planting dates for Atlanta

What UGA Extension’s calendars say for Atlanta

UGA Extension’s Vegetable Garden Calendar (Circular 943) is set for middle Georgia: “The monthly recommendations—especially the spring and fall planting dates—are for the typical day and month in middle Georgia. To use this calendar, consider middle Georgia as a belt across the state from Columbus through Macon to Augusta.” Atlanta lies north of that belt. UGA says to plant later in spring and earlier in fall as you go north: “In north Georgia, the spring planting dates are from 1 to 3 weeks later as you progress northward through the mountain counties; fall planting dates are about 2 weeks earlier.”

• Spring (March, middle Georgia): “Get rows ready for warm-season vegetables to be planted during the last week of March or first week or two of April as weather permits.”
• Fall deadline (July, middle Georgia): “Plant the following vegetables no later than July 20 to allow time to mature before frost: tomatoes, okra, corn, pole beans, and lima beans.” By UGA’s note above, fall dates run about 2 weeks earlier farther north.

UGA’s Vegetable Planting Chart (Circular 963) does not say which part of Georgia its dates are for, so it is labeled as UGA’s statewide chart here, next to our dates from the NOAA median at Atlanta Fulton County Airport.

Peas, two ways: UGA’s statewide chart gives Jan. 15 – Feb. 15; our frost-date rule, counted from Atlanta Fulton County Airport’s median last frost (Mar 24), gives Feb 10 – Feb 24.

Atlanta-area resources

UGA Extension Fulton County: “We live in hardiness zone 8a or 7b for Atlanta and north Georgia”; ZIP 30303 is zone 8a. Soil testing, from UGA Extension DeKalb County: “A soil test is the fertility gauge for lawns, shrubs, trees, vegetables, flowers or for whatever you are trying to grow.”

Sources: UGA Extension Circular 943, Vegetable Garden Calendar; UGA Extension Circular 963, Vegetable Planting Chart; UGA Extension Fulton County: Vegetable gardening during the springtime; UGA Extension DeKalb County: Soil Testing.

Atlanta vegetable and flower planting calendar

Every date range below is counted from Atlanta’s median frost dates (Mar 24 and Nov 8) with the same rules as our planner, and rows run in calendar order. In about half of years a frost still comes after the spring date.

How we count planting dates: the weeks before or after frost for each crop come from university extension planting guides: UNH Extension, When to Plant Your Vegetable Garden; Rutgers FS787, Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors; Virginia Tech 426-331, Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide; University of Maryland Extension, Vegetable Planting Calendar; and University of Idaho CIS 1209 (marigolds and zinnias). Bulb windows approximate Rutgers’ rule to plant when soil falls below 60°F (FS1220), and garlic follows SDSU, Illinois and Virginia Tech. Temperature notes: UMD (potatoes), UMN (sweet corn), UC ANR (peppers, hardening off), UMN (eggplant), Colorado State (tomatoes) and SDSU (hardening off).

Harvest estimates add days to harvest from these sources to each planting window, and stop at the first fall frost for frost-tender crops: UF/IFAS Extension, Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide (SP103/VH021), Table 1, “Days to Harvest”; University of Maryland Extension, Growing Onions in a Home Garden; University of Maryland Extension, Growing Garlic in a Home Garden; University of Maryland Extension, Growing Basil in a Home Garden.

Frost dates across Atlanta’s ZIP codes

Across Atlanta’s 22 ZIP codes, the median last spring frost ranges from Mar 15 to Mar 25 and the median first fall frost from Nov 8 to Nov 20, depending on which of 3 NOAA stations is nearest. This page uses ZIP 30303, which is in the group most Atlanta ZIP codes share.

Which ZIP codes count as Atlanta: the 22 ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (2020 ZCTAs) with at least half of their land area inside Atlanta city limits, from the U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 ZCTA to Place Relationship File. ZCTAs are the Census Bureau’s approximations of USPS ZIP Code areas, so this list may not match every USPS ZIP code. Each ZIP code’s dates are the ones our planner shows for it.

How Atlanta compares

How this table is built: each ZIP code is matched to its nearest NOAA 1991–2020 freeze-data station (within 60 miles); state and zone rows are medians across those ZIP codes. Zones are the 2023 USDA zones by ZIP code (PRISM).

More for Atlanta gardeners

• Your own ZIP: open the planner for ZIP 30303 and change the ZIP to yours for its own station and dates.
• Georgia: When to plant in Georgia, with frost dates across the state.
• USDA zone 8a: our zone 8 planting guide.
• Frost tonight? How to protect plants from frost.

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