One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Foley can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant fennel.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

You can plant fennel a lot earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Foley 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fennel may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your fennel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Foley. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Foley may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Foley there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your fennel in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Foley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Foley

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