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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Benson it's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant mustard.

Planting Calendar for Mustard

Frost tolerance for mustard:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You really shouldn't plant mustard until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant mustard and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mustard may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your mustard 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 Benson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Benson is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Benson there is a last frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your mustard if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Benson

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 Benson

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