One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's possible to plant asparagus is to look at the USDA zone info for South Bend.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

Frost tolerance for asparagus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant asparagus a lot earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in South Bend is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asparagus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Bend. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for South Bend and it is different every year. Since half of the time in South Bend there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your asparagus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Bend

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in South Bend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bend.