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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant fennel is to check out the USDA zone info for Tuskegee.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel do well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Tuskegee 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. Any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your fennel indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Tuskegee. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Tuskegee may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Tuskegee you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your fennel if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tuskegee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Tuskegee

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