One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to figure out when to plant fennel by reviewing the USDA zone info for Palmer.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant fennel and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your fennel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Palmer. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Palmer may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Palmer you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your fennel in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Palmer

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 Palmer

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