One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant melampodium in Seward should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Melampodium

Frost tolerance for melampodium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You really shouldn't plant melampodium until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant melampodium in Seward is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant melampodium and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your melampodium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your melampodium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Seward. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Seward may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Seward it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your melampodium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Seward

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Seward

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Seward.