One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 way of determining when it's the best time to plant cauliflower is to examine the USDA zone info for Roanoke.

Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

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

You can plant cauliflower a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

In Roanoke the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Roanoke is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Roanoke last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your cauliflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Roanoke

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 Roanoke

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