Planting Date & Sow & Harvest, Either Way
Times sowing
Plan backwards from a target harvest date to find the sowing date, or forwards from sowing to find the harvest date — with transplant timing and duration in weeks.
Plan your planting
Next: sow around Sat, Jul 18, 2026 to harvest by your target; adjust for your variety's actual duration and local season/frost windows.
Durations are variety- and weather-dependent — use your seed packet/variety guide and local advisory.
Planting date — key facts
- Sow date
- harvest − crop duration
- Harvest date
- sow + crop duration
- Transplant date
- sow + nursery days
- Duration
- shown in days and weeks
- Source
- packet days-to-maturity
- Varies with
- variety & weather
- Use it for
- market windows, succession
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Work back from the market, or forward from the field
Timing is half of farming. Sow too early and frost or heat catches the crop; sow too late and you miss the best price or run out of season. A planting date calculator turns that judgement into dates: aim at the harvest window you want and it tells you when to sow, or fix your sowing date and it tells you when you'll harvest. For transplanted crops it folds in the nursery period so you start the seedlings at exactly the right moment.
This tool gives the sow date, transplant date, harvest date and the crop duration in weeks from your dates and your variety's days-to-maturity. Use it to hit a market window, stagger successions so produce comes steadily, and book your season with confidence. Pair it with the Crop Calendar, Frost Date and Days to Harvest tools for a complete planting plan.
Hit the market window
Back-calculate sowing from your target harvest.
Plan forwards too
Set a sowing date and see when you'll harvest.
Handle transplants
Nursery days give the transplant date.
Stagger successions
Space sowings to keep produce coming.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a planting date calculator do?+
It links your sowing date, transplant date and harvest date through the crop's duration. Tell it the harvest date you're aiming for and it works backwards to the sowing date; tell it the sowing date and it works forwards to the harvest date. Either way you get a clear timeline so you can plan the season around a market window or weather.
How do I plan backwards from a harvest date?+
Pick the date you want to harvest — often to hit a price peak or a market window — and the tool subtracts the crop's duration: sow date = harvest date − crop duration. For a transplanted crop it also backs out the nursery time so you know when to start the seedlings as well as when to set them out.
How do I plan forwards from a sowing date?+
Enter the date you'll sow and the crop duration, and the tool adds them: harvest date = sow date + crop duration. For transplanted crops it adds the nursery days to give the transplant date, then runs the duration from there to the harvest date.
What is nursery time and transplant date?+
Many crops — tomato, chilli, onion, brassicas, paddy — are raised in a nursery first and then moved to the field. The transplant date = sow date + nursery days. The main crop duration is usually counted from transplanting, so handling the nursery period separately keeps the harvest date accurate.
Where do crop durations come from?+
Use the days-to-maturity on the seed packet or variety guide, which is the typical field duration from sowing (or from transplanting for transplanted crops). The tool lets you enter your own value because duration depends heavily on variety, so the packet figure for your exact variety is the most reliable starting point.
Why does duration vary so much?+
Crop duration is variety- and weather-dependent. Warmth speeds growth and cool spells slow it, so the same variety can mature noticeably faster in a hot season than a cool one. Treat the calculated dates as a strong plan, then adjust in the field as the crop tells you how it's actually progressing.
What is the duration in weeks for?+
Alongside the dates the tool shows the crop duration in weeks, which is an easy way to compare crops, slot successions a fixed number of weeks apart, and sanity-check a packet figure. Weeks also map neatly onto farm routines and market days for planning the season.
Can I use it for succession planting?+
Yes — run it once per planting. Decide your harvest windows a couple of weeks apart, back-calculate the sowing date for each, and you get a staggered sowing schedule that keeps produce coming steadily instead of all at once. It's just as useful forwards for spacing out sowings you've already planned.
Are the dates exact?+
They're solid planning dates. Real maturity shifts with weather, soil, variety and management, and transplanted crops can check briefly after planting out. Use the dates to set your plan and book your market window, then watch the crop and fine-tune — planting-date planning is about steering the season, not exact prediction.
Does it work for any crop or region?+
Yes — enter the duration and nursery time for your crop and it works anywhere, for grains, vegetables, pulses or fodder, in any growing season. Pair it with a local crop calendar and frost dates to make sure your sowing and harvest windows fall within the safe growing period for your area.