Fall planting calculator
Read your seed packet, choose a fall frost reference, and check how much growing time your next planting has.
Your fall timing estimate
Latest sowing reference
Oct 15, 2027 minus 55 maturity days and 14 extra days.
- Maturity estimate with your allowance
- Time before the frost reference
- 6 days before
This start fits the dates you entered. Check actual growing conditions before planting.
This is a sowing date. Use a maturity figure that starts at sowing; do not substitute a transplant-to-maturity figure.
A date that fits is not a harvest guarantee. Crop tolerance, daylight, soil temperature and weather still matter. Frost-tolerant crops may continue later; tender crops may need protection sooner.
How to count backward for a fall crop
Latest start = first fall frost reference − packet days to maturity − your extra allowance. Your proposed start plus those same days gives the maturity estimate. The difference between that estimate and the frost reference is the time remaining.
A 55-day crop before an October 15 reference
With 55 days to maturity and 14 extra days, count back 69 days from October 15: the latest start is August 7. An August 1 start reaches the same estimate on October 9, six days before the reference. This is a worked example, not a planting recommendation.
Use the right starting point
If the packet counts from transplanting, enter the day the seedling goes into its growing position. If it counts from sowing, enter the sowing day. Changing this label does not invent a conversion between the two methods.
Use whole days: 1–730 for maturity and 0–365 for the extra allowance. Full dates are kept exactly as entered, including plans that cross New Year. These input limits keep the calculation bounded; they are not crop recommendations.
Sources and conditions
University of Maryland Extension: fall vegetable gardening ↗