When to plant in Rainier, WA

Planting dates worked out from Rainier's own frost records, not a generic zone chart.

Safe to plant out

May 16

1 year in 10 has a later frost

Average last frost

May 3

about a 50% chance of a later one

Average first fall frost

Oct 13

1 year in 10 by Sep 28

Frost-free days

159

median, 1991–2020

Station used: Olympia Ap · 19.0 km away · station 61 m, town 132 m. How we match towns to stations

This season

Plan your garden.

Build my Rainier plan

Planting dates for common crops

Crop	Start indoors	Plant out or sow	Harvest from
Tomato	Mar 21 – Apr 4	May 16 – May 30	Jul 10
Sweet pepper	Mar 7 – Mar 21	May 16 – May 30	Jul 15
Lettuce (leaf)	Mar 1 – Mar 8	Apr 5 – Apr 19	May 15
Peas	—	Mar 22 – Apr 19	May 16
Bush beans	—	May 9 – May 30	Jun 28
Carrot	—	Apr 12 – May 24	Jun 11
Beet	—	Apr 5 – May 17	May 25
Potato	—	Apr 12 – May 3	Jun 21
Kale	Feb 22 – Mar 8	Apr 5 – Apr 19	May 18
Broccoli	Feb 22 – Mar 8	Apr 5 – Apr 26	Jun 4
Cucumber	Apr 18 – Apr 25	May 16 – May 30	Jul 5
Summer squash and zucchini	Apr 18 – Apr 25	May 16 – May 30	Jun 30
Winter squash	Apr 18 – Apr 25	May 16 – May 30	Aug 4
Sweet corn	—	May 9 – May 30	Jul 8
Onion (from sets)	—	Apr 5 – Apr 26	Jul 4
Garlic	—	Sep 29 – Oct 27 (fall)	following summer
Spinach	—	Mar 22 – Apr 19	Apr 29
Basil	Apr 4 – Apr 18	May 16 – May 30	Jul 12

Plan all 65 crops for Rainier

Rainier's weather over time

How the growing season has shifted here, year by year, from the station's own records.

Each year's last spring frostLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Last spring frost
1942	May 11
1943	Apr 26
1944	May 10
1945	Apr 28
1946	May 1
1947	May 10
1948	May 2
1949	May 5
1950	May 23
1951	May 1
1952	May 5
1953	May 31
1954	May 6
1955	May 6
1956	Apr 30
1957	Apr 20
1958	May 13
1959	May 6
1960	May 22
1961	May 11
1962	May 19
1963	May 13
1964	May 26
1965	May 8
1966	Jun 1
1967	May 25
1968	May 7
1969	May 15
1970	May 18
1971	Apr 24
1972	May 25
1973	May 26
1974	Apr 14
1975	May 25
1976	Jun 13
1977	May 12
1978	May 7
1979	Apr 10
1980	May 7
1981	May 8
1982	May 5
1983	Apr 25
1984	Apr 26
1985	May 12
1986	Apr 30
1987	Apr 25
1988	Apr 26
1989	Apr 24
1990	May 8
1991	Apr 16
1992	May 12
1993	Apr 19
1994	May 3
1995	May 12
1996	May 9
1997	May 2
1998	Apr 26
1999	May 10
2000	May 7
2001	May 6
2002	May 16
2003	May 18
2004	Apr 29
2005	Apr 19
2006	May 9
2007	May 10
2008	May 12
2009	Apr 24
2010	May 9
2011	May 17
2012	May 19
2013	May 1
2014	Apr 14
2015	Apr 26
2016	Apr 26
2017	Apr 29
2018	Apr 23
2019	Apr 30
2020	May 1
2021	Apr 15
2022	May 11
2023	Apr 20
2024	May 8

Each year's frost-free daysLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Frost-free days
1942	129
1943	174
1944	175
1945	171
1946	162
1947	130
1948	145
1949	129
1950	128
1951	177
1952	161
1953	142
1954	146
1955	137
1956	179
1957	166
1958	162
1959	175
1960	139
1961	133
1962	171
1963	157
1964	144
1965	131
1966	129
1967	160
1968	153
1969	122
1970	117
1971	149
1972	122
1973	97
1974	174
1975	149
1976	121
1977	143
1978	166
1979	201
1980	163
1981	156
1982	152
1983	146
1984	150
1985	139
1986	163
1987	167
1988	183
1989	147
1990	151
1991	183
1992	145
1993	154
1994	152
1995	158
1996	159
1997	169
1998	175
1999	140
2000	138
2001	151
2002	137
2003	165
2004	180
2005	157
2006	153
2007	167
2008	151
2009	163
2010	159
2011	160
2012	136
2013	179
2014	209
2015	197
2016	167
2017	157
2018	162
2019	152
2020	173
2021	178
2022	164
2023	188
2024	167

Each year's average temperature, April to SeptemberLong-term trend

See the data as a table

Year	Growing-season temperature
1942	14.9 °C
1943	14.5 °C
1944	14.7 °C
1945	14.2 °C
1946	14.3 °C
1947	14.6 °C
1948	13.5 °C
1949	14.3 °C
1950	13.9 °C
1951	14.5 °C
1952	14.1 °C
1953	13.6 °C
1954	12.8 °C
1955	12.7 °C
1956	14.5 °C
1957	15.0 °C
1958	16.1 °C
1959	13.9 °C
1960	13.9 °C
1961	14.3 °C
1962	13.6 °C
1963	14.1 °C
1964	12.6 °C
1965	14.2 °C
1966	13.7 °C
1967	15.2 °C
1968	14.0 °C
1969	14.6 °C
1970	13.6 °C
1971	13.6 °C
1972	13.6 °C
1973	13.7 °C
1974	14.5 °C
1975	13.4 °C
1976	13.1 °C
1977	13.9 °C
1978	14.6 °C
1979	14.7 °C
1980	14.0 °C
1981	14.7 °C
1982	14.6 °C
1983	14.3 °C
1984	13.8 °C
1985	14.7 °C
1986	14.2 °C
1987	14.8 °C
1988	13.7 °C
1989	14.4 °C
1990	14.9 °C
1991	14.0 °C
1992	15.4 °C
1993	14.8 °C
1994	15.5 °C
1995	15.2 °C
1996	14.0 °C
1997	15.0 °C
1998	14.8 °C
1999	13.3 °C
2000	14.1 °C
2001	13.3 °C
2002	13.8 °C
2003	14.6 °C
2004	15.1 °C
2005	14.6 °C
2006	14.8 °C
2007	14.2 °C
2008	13.8 °C
2009	14.8 °C
2010	13.8 °C
2011	13.4 °C
2012	14.1 °C
2013	15.2 °C
2014	15.6 °C
2015	15.8 °C
2016	15.4 °C
2017	15.3 °C
2018	15.2 °C
2019	15.2 °C
2020	15.2 °C
2021	15.4 °C
2022	14.7 °C
2023	15.3 °C
2024	15.1 °C

What this means for you: Since 1942, Rainier's last spring frost has come about 1 day earlier per decade, on average. The frost-free season has grown by about 3 days per decade. Year-to-year swings are large, so keep using the safe date rather than the trend.

Source: daily records from Olympia Ap (NOAA GHCN-Daily). Years with too many missing days are left out.

Nearby towns

Yelm North Yelm Tenino Lacey Tanglewilde-Thompson Place Tanglewilde