Eating Garden

Broad state garden guide

What to grow in Washington

Washington has more than one climate. This page keeps only crops supported across at least 95 percent of the ZIP areas with both zone and frost records. Your ZIP gives a more useful answer.

Washington garden snapshot

Most common zones
Zone 8, Zone 7, and Zone 9
The three zones covering the most supported ZIP-area centers.
Frost-free span
About 130 to 255 days
The middle 80 percent across 577 supported ZIP areas. The middle value is 189 days.
Broad crop matches
15
A cautious statewide list. Local choices can be wider.

Food crops to explore

These broad matches are meant to be safe across most of the state. They are not planting dates, and a crop missing here may still be a good fit in your part of Washington.

  • Takes some care

    Bell Pepper

    A sweet, warm-season pepper that can be picked green or left to ripen to its final color.

    • 70 to 85 days to harvest from transplant
    • Warm season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Takes some care

    Broccoli

    A cool-season cabbage-family crop grown for tight green flower buds.

    • 50 to 85 days to harvest from transplant
    • Cool season
  • Takes some care

    Cabbage

    A cool-season leaf crop that wraps its inner leaves into a firm head.

    • 60 to 100 days to harvest from transplant
    • Cool season
  • Takes some care

    Carrot

    A root crop that asks for little except loose, stone free ground and patience while it germinates.

    • 70 to 80 days to harvest
    • Cool season
  • Easy

    Cilantro

    A cool-weather herb with fresh leaves called cilantro and dried seeds called coriander.

    • 45 to 80 days to harvest
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Takes some care

    Cucumber

    A warm-season vine grown for crisp green fruit that is picked before it turns yellow.

    • 50 to 70 days to harvest
    • Warm season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Green Beans

    A warm-season crop picked while the pods are crisp and the seeds inside are still small.

    • 50 to 60 days to harvest
    • Warm season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Kale

    A cold-tough leafy green that can keep making harvests well into fall.

    • 50 to 55 days to harvest
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Lettuce

    A fast, cool weather leaf crop that you can pick from for weeks. It is at its best in spring and autumn, and turns bitter in a hot, dry spell.

    • 50 to 70 days to harvest
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Peas

    A cool-season vine grown for sweet seeds or tender edible pods.

    • 55 to 70 days to harvest
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Radish

    A quick, cool-season root crop that is ready in weeks when soil stays loose and moist.

    • 25 to 35 days to harvest
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Spinach

    A fast, cool-season leaf crop that tastes best before warm, long days make it flower.

    • 37 to 45 days to harvest
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Takes some care

    Strawberry

    A low perennial that fruits for years once established. The first summer is about getting the plants settled; the real crop comes after that.

    • 300 to 400 days to harvest from transplant
    • Cool season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Thyme

    A small woody evergreen herb that thrives in sun and dry, sharply drained soil.

    • Comes back year after year
    • Warm season
    • Grows in a pot
  • Easy

    Zucchini

    A fast, warm-season summer squash picked while the skin and seeds are still tender.

    • 50 to 65 days to harvest from transplant
    • Warm season

Pick your ZIP for local planting dates

Optional local dates

Get planting dates for where you live

Save a city or a U.S. ZIP so we can turn local frost records into useful dates. Every crop guide still works without this.

A U.S. ZIP uses official NOAA frost records. Other countries use weather-station records, or a climate reconstruction where stations are missing. Coordinates are used once and not stored. We save only a place label and climate summary in a private browser cookie. You can clear it anytime.