📅 Jamaica Planting Calendar & Planting Days 2026
Jamaica doesn't have winter — we have rhythms. Two rainy seasons, a dry stretch, and a hurricane season to plan around. Learn the rhythm and you can pull food from the same yard twelve months of the year. Here's the calendar we plant by.
Best days for planting — above-ground & below-ground crops
Two things decide timing in Jamaica: the season (rain and heat) and, if you follow the tradition, the moon. The old McDonald / Farmers' Almanac rule is simple:
⬆️ Above-ground crops
Sow as the moon waxes — from the new moon toward the full moon. These are the crops you harvest above the soil.
Callaloo · pak choi · lettuce · cabbage · tomato · sweet & hot pepper · corn · string beans · gungo · okra · pumpkin · cucumber · melon · sorrel
⬇️ Below-ground crops
Sow as the moon wanes — from the full moon toward the new moon. These are the roots you harvest under the soil.
Carrot · beet · radish · turnip · sweet potato · onion · Irish potato · ginger · dasheen · yam
The year at a glance
- December–March (dry season): cooler nights, low disease pressure. Prime time for tomatoes, sweet peppers, carrots, lettuce and cabbage — if you can water.
- April–June (first rains): the big planting window. Almost everything establishes easily now.
- July–August (mid-summer break): hot, often dry-ish, and the start of hurricane season. Lean on heat-lovers and quick crops.
- September–November (second rains): the second big window — and peak storm season, so plant in stages, not all at once.
Month by month
| Month | Sow now | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| January | Tomato, sweet pepper, carrot, lettuce, cabbage, beet, string beans | Cool-loving crops shine. Water is your only job. |
| February | Tomato, carrot, pak choi, cucumber, melon, callaloo | Driest month for much of the island — mulch everything. |
| March | Pumpkin, watermelon, cucumber, okra, callaloo, hot peppers (in trays) | Start Scotch Bonnet trays now to transplant with the April rains. |
| April | Almost everything: pumpkin, corn, beans, okra, callaloo, cucumber, pepper transplants | First rains begin — the easiest establishment of the year. |
| May | Corn, beans, sweet potato slips, okra, melons, herbs | Peak rainy planting. Watch for slugs on young seedlings. |
| June | Callaloo, pak choi, okra, hot peppers, sorrel | Sow sorrel now–July for Christmas harvest. |
| July | Callaloo, okra, cucumber, beans (quick types), sorrel | Heat-lovers only. Stagger small sowings — storm season opens. |
| August | Callaloo, pak choi, radish, beans | Fast, low crops you can harvest inside 4–8 weeks. |
| September | Tomato & pepper trays, callaloo, cucumber, pumpkin | Second rains begin; keep tray seedlings somewhere storm-safe. |
| October | Tomato transplants, cabbage, carrot, beans, lettuce | Big open window as storm risk fades late-month. |
| November | Tomato, sweet pepper, carrot, cabbage, beet, lettuce, herbs | Set up the dry-season garden now while soil is still moist. |
| December | Lettuce, carrot, radish, herbs, more tomato | Cool nights = crisp salads. Sorrel harvest time. 🇯🇲 |
How to grow the big Jamaican crops
Step-by-step guides for the crops people ask about most:
Crops that ignore the calendar
Some things simply grow all year in Jamaica, any month you drop seed: callaloo, okra, hot peppers (once established), sweet potato, and most herbs — thyme, basil, mint, escallion. When in doubt, plant these.
Your parish matters
This calendar fits most lowland gardens. If you're in the cool hills — upper St. Andrew, Manchester, Portland interior — you can stretch "dry-season" crops like lettuce, carrot and cabbage across more of the year. Coastal and southern plains gardeners (St. Elizabeth, we see you) should double down on mulch and drought-tough crops in Feb–March.
Everything on this calendar is in the shop
Hand-packed for backyard gardens from J$150 a gram — vegetables, herbs and Jamaican favorites, delivered island-wide.
Shop seeds →And when rain stops play, keep your green thumb warm in Likkle Farm — our free browser farming game. 🎮