18/05/2026
Here are some ideas for what to plant on the Front Range of Colorado in the second half of May ⤵️
Direct sowing: now (after the cold snap) is a good time to sow cucurbits (squash, melons, & cucumbers), corn, and beans. Continue succession plantings of radish, carrots, beets, and turnips. If you have seeds on hand of cool season veggies that I mentioned for the first half of May and haven’t gotten them out yet or want to get another succession planting in, might as well try! It depends on the year, and if you’ve gardened here a while you’ve probably noticed - some years we go from cold to hot fast, and some years we have a little more of a spring, so it will be hit or miss how your late planted cool season veg do.
Transplanting: during the second half of May you can look at nighttime temperatures to decide when to plant your warm season veggies - tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, tomatillos, cucumbers, melons, and squash. Peppers and cucurbits will especially appreciate the warm nighttime temperatures, so check that night temperatures are staying around 50 degrees and soil is 65-70 degrees. Tomatoes will appreciate the same, but can tolerate a touch cooler, especially if you have varieties that are adapted to cold climates. If you have season extension, you can try getting these out sooner. I typically wait until Memorial Day weekend to plant my warm season veggies through the first week of June. As long as you aren’t growing long season varieties it’s usually fine (barring an unusually early frost).
If you have any more cool season veggie starts try to get them planted as soon as you can. Asian greens, kohlrabi, kale, lettuce, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, onion family starts/sets, potatoes.
Rough timing is good to keep in mind, but everyone’s situation is different 😀 These are my recommendations based on what has worked for myself in this region throughout the years (though I’ve been know to not follow the “rules”!). Experiment and find what works for you!
The guide is for a last frost date of ~May 5-15, but of course in Colorado it can vary a lot year to year.
For a deeper dive, check out my seed starting guide, link in bio.
