When to Plant Cucumbers in North Carolina: Spring and Fall Windows for Central NC
NC State Extension’s own cucumbers dates for North Carolina, row by row and never averaged, beside NOAA frost dates for Raleigh Durham International Airport, Piedmont Triad International Airport, and Charlotte Douglas Airport.
Updated
Figures checked against their sources on ; next check .
North Carolina is covered by NC State Extension’s own table, and cucumbers sit in it as a separate row for one part of the state. Dates here are printed as months or as offsets, not as exact days, so the entries read: Central North Carolina (Apr 15 to Aug 1 (seed or transplant)).
North Carolina’s dates, row by row
Each cell in the table is copied as the source prints it.
| Part of the state | Spring windows | Fall windows |
|---|---|---|
| Central North Carolina | Apr 15 to Aug 1 (seed or transplant) | — |
What to know about this source
The dates on the chart are for planting out in the garden, and the page says that shade in summer and frost protection in winter may let you extend the season before and after them. Planting additional plants every few weeks within the window, the page adds, extends the harvest over a greater period.
Starting cucumbers indoors
How early to sow indoors depends on the crop more than the state, and the saved sources agree on the shape if not the numbers; UNH’s figure is 3 to 4 weeks.
Expect less guidance here than for tomatoes: cucumbers get a single timed source and a note on pots.
In the garden itself, UNH sows cucumbers once the soil reaches 70 °F, which a soil thermometer answers better than any calendar.
| Source | What it says |
|---|---|
| University of New Hampshire | 3 to 4 weeks from seed to transplant; 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost is safe to set out |
| University of Minnesota | Cucumbers and squash transplant poorly, so raise them in fiber or paper pots that break down in the soil |
Where the frost dates fall in North Carolina
NOAA’s 1991-2020 normals give nine probability levels for each station; the table keeps only the middle one, the even-odds date, and the links open the rest.
A station is tied to a region of the calendar only where the source’s own wording makes that call; the rest are left blank on purpose.
| Station | Last spring 32°F | First fall 32°F | Region in North Carolina’s calendar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raleigh Durham International Airport, North Carolina | March 31 | November 4 | Central North Carolina |
| Piedmont Triad International Airport, North Carolina | March 30 | November 5 | Central North Carolina |
| Charlotte Douglas Airport, North Carolina | March 30 | November 3 | Central North Carolina |
| Fayetteville Regional Airport, North Carolina | March 22 | November 13 | Central North Carolina |
| Asheville Regional Airport, North Carolina | April 9 | October 28 | Not stated by the source |
Worked example
Pick Charlotte Douglas Airport, North Carolina as the garden. Half of recent years saw their last spring 32°F night by March 30, and half saw their first fall one by November 3.
Set the frost date against Central North Carolina: the window opens April 15, 16 days after it, and shuts August 1, 124 days after it.
The offsets will shift by a few days with every revision of the normals, so use them as a rough guide to which row to trust and not as a deadline.
Before you rely on these dates
The calendar is for central North Carolina only; the mountains and the coast run earlier or later, and the page gives no dates for them.
A late cold snap after a mild March is the usual way these windows go wrong; keep a sheet or row cover on hand.
Sources (4)
- NC State Extension (Bradley, Gunter, Sherk and Driscoll), Central North Carolina Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs, AG-756-01, published July 8, 2016 content.ces.ncsu.edu
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, annual and seasonal normals (frost/freeze probabilities by station) ncei.noaa.gov
- University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, Growing Vegetables: When to Plant Your Vegetable Garden (fact sheet) extension.unh.edu
- University of Minnesota Extension, Starting seeds indoors (page reviewed 2026) extension.umn.edu