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.

In Fort Payne you can determine when it's the best time to plant chicory by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Fort Payne 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your chicory indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Fort Payne. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Payne is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Fort Payne you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your chicory in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Payne

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Payne

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Payne.