When to Plant Cabbages in Chicopee, Massachusetts, United States

Step by step in Chicopee

Import into Apple Calendar, Google Calendar or Outlook. Dates use the selected risk level and are planning estimates, not frost alerts.

Each window is a planning range. Check the forecast, soil and cultivar before planting; a later date is not automatically safer in hot or wet conditions.

Start indoors

3-24 Mar

Eight weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.

Sow for overwintering

14 Jun - 5 Jul

Counting back 114 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.

Plant out

8-29 Apr

Delayed by a soil-warming estimate derived from historical air temperatures. The frost-only date would be 7 Apr. Measure your soil before planting.

Harvest

17 Jun - 17 Jul

Frost tolerance

Hardy

Damaged below

-8°C (17.6°F)

Days to maturity

70–100

Min soil temp

7°C (44.6°F)

Spacing

45 cm

Sowing depth

12 mm (0.5 in)

Sun

Full

Cabbages through the year

Against the frost risk in Chicopee

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Cabbages

Frost risk Start indoors Autumn sowing Plant out Harvest Today

Seasonal context

Rainfall and the growing season in Chicopee

October has the highest average precipitation (124 mm); January has the lowest (77 mm). Compare this pattern with the planting windows and your water supply.

Jan 77 mm

Feb 81 mm

Mar 95 mm

Apr 104 mm

May 93 mm

Jun 117 mm

Jul 103 mm

Aug 102 mm

Sep 105 mm

Oct 124 mm

Nov 89 mm

Dec 111 mm

During wetter months, check that beds and containers drain after heavy rain. During drier months, plan how you will keep seeds and new transplants watered. Monthly averages can hide long dry spells and intense storms; they do not show soil moisture, humidity or this week's weather.

Source: NASA POWER, corrected MERRA-2 precipitation, 2001–2020. Values are approximate monthly totals, including the water equivalent of snow, from the nearest 0.5° × 0.625° grid cell. This reference period differs from the temperature record. Rainfall provides context and does not change the calculated planting dates. Method and limitations.

Monthly growing conditions in Chicopee

Compare the planting window with the local temperature pattern. These are historical monthly averages, not this year's forecast or measured soil temperatures. Average frost days do not tell you whether a particular night will freeze.

NASA POWER climate averages, 1995–2024
Month	Average low	Average high	Frost days
January	-8.4°C (16.8°F)	0.3°C (32.5°F)	28.6
February	-7.6°C (18.3°F)	1.8°C (35.3°F)	26.5
March	-3.5°C (25.6°F)	6.7°C (44°F)	24.9
April	1.8°C (35.3°F)	13.7°C (56.6°F)	10.0
May	8.1°C (46.5°F)	19.8°C (67.7°F)	0.4
June	13.5°C (56.4°F)	24.8°C (76.6°F)	0.0
July	17°C (62.7°F)	28.5°C (83.2°F)	0.0
August	16.4°C (61.5°F)	28.2°C (82.7°F)	0.0
September	12.3°C (54.1°F)	24.4°C (76°F)	0.0
October	6°C (42.8°F)	17°C (62.7°F)	2.8
November	0.1°C (32.1°F)	9.6°C (49.3°F)	16.3
December	-4.6°C (23.7°F)	3.4°C (38.1°F)	26.1

For cabbages, also check drainage, sunlight and cultivar requirements. See the rainfall context above; humidity, irrigation and local pest pressure are not calculated.

Local growing check

Before choosing cabbages for Chicopee

October is the wettest month in the rainfall grid, averaging about 124 mm. Check how your own bed drains and plan watering around actual soil moisture; monthly rain totals are not an irrigation schedule.

The temperature and rainfall tables on this page show the underlying climate estimates. How these suitability checks work · Record what happens in your garden.

Before you plant cabbages

Use the calendar to plan ahead, then check the conditions in your own garden.

Measure the soil at sowing depth. Aim for at least 7°C (44.6°F); the calendar estimates soil warmth from air temperatures and cannot measure your bed.
Frost tolerance does not make saturated or frozen soil suitable for planting. Wait until the bed can be worked without smearing or compacting it.
Harden off plants raised indoors: gradually expose them to outdoor light, wind and temperature before their final move into the bed.
Use the maturity range on your seed packet when choosing a variety. Cold, short days and transplant stress can make harvest later than the calendar estimate.

Choose the cabbage season before choosing the date

Decide whether you want small fresh heads or large storage heads. This affects spacing, time in the bed and the number of plants worth growing.

Transplant healthy plants into firm, fertile ground with drainage. Check young growth for caterpillars and inspect any protective netting so that pests are not trapped inside with the plants.

Cut firm heads when ready rather than leaving every plant until the same date. Record splitting or weather damage so that next season's batch size matches the rate you can use the crop.

Growing in a container

Choose a small-heading cultivar and give each plant its recommended spacing. A cabbage is not a cut-and-come-again salad simply because its young leaves fit in a small pot.

What to record this season

Did the intended harvest season match the variety, and did the heads split? Add the cultivar, sowing date and conditions to your growing record so you can compare next season.

Further reading: RHS cabbages growing guide . General crop guidance; local dates on this site are calculated separately. Source checked 19 September 2026 by Safe to Plant; this is not an expert review.

The RHS guide is written for UK growing conditions. Use its cultivation advice with local cultivar and seasonal guidance; its calendar months are not worldwide recommendations.

How the dates are calculated and their limits · Keep a growing record · Report a local discrepancy

Why these dates

Decide whether you want small fresh heads or large storage heads. This affects spacing, time in the bed and the number of plants worth growing.

Cold tolerance varies with cultivar, plant age, acclimatisation and the duration of a freeze. A plant surviving frost does not mean its leaves, heads, flowers or developing crop will remain undamaged. Check the forecast and the variety's local advice.

This calendar uses frost-relative offsets as a starting point. Cabbages are timed from 8 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Chicopee.

The calendar also applies a soil-warming estimate derived from historical air temperatures. Where that estimate is later than the frost-based date, it delays the window. Soil in your own garden can warm earlier or later; a thermometer at sowing depth is a better final check. Cold, wet conditions can slow germination and increase decay risk.

The median frost-free season here is 182 days, against 70 to 100 days to maturity for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Chicopee →

Nearby

Cabbages in places close by

North Chicopee 4 km Springfield 5 km East Hartford 41 km Hartford 43 km West Hartford 44 km New Britain 56 km

Also in Chicopee

Other vegetables to time

Tomatoes tender Lettuce half hardy Potatoes half hardy Courgettes tender Sweet peppers tender Carrots hardy Cucumbers tender Green beans tender Peas hardy Garlic very hardy Chilli peppers tender Sweetcorn tender

Growing cabbages in Chicopee

Can I grow cabbages in Chicopee?

The calendar estimates a planting window, not a guarantee of success. October is the wettest month in the rainfall grid, averaging about 124 mm. Check how your own bed drains and plan watering around actual soil moisture; monthly rain totals are not an irrigation schedule.

When should I plant cabbages in Chicopee?

Aim for 8-29 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Apr - 14 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

Can I plant cabbages earlier in Chicopee?

The historical frost estimate is 7 Apr. For Cabbages, an air-temperature model estimates soil warmth of about 7°C (44.6°F) around 8 Apr. This is not a soil measurement or a forecast. Check your bed at sowing depth; cold, wet conditions can slow growth and increase decay risk.

When might cabbages be ready to harvest in Chicopee?

The estimated period is 17 Jun - 17 Jul, based on 70 to 100 days from the modeled planting date. Cultivar, planting material and growing conditions can change this interval; check the plant as well as the calendar.

How much frost will cabbages tolerate?