When to Plant Sweet corn in Anchorage, AK

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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.

A common way of estimating when to plant sweet corn is to examine the USDA zone info for Anchorage.


Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since sweet corn are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet corn
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet corn
Probably not a good time to plant sweet corn

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Anchorage 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 sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet corn may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sweet corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Anchorage. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Anchorage is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Anchorage last frost occurs after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your sweet corn if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Anchorage

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-25°F
Highest Expected Low-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Anchorage

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