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 common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant black radish is to refer to the USDA zone info for Lancaster.

Planting Calendar for Black radish

Frost tolerance for black radish:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Black radish do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant black radish in Lancaster 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 black radish and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black radish may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your black radish indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Lancaster. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lancaster and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lancaster last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your black radish in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lancaster

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 Lancaster

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