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.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant mustard is to examine the USDA zone info for Thatcher.

Planting Calendar for Mustard

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

It's not a good idea to plant mustard until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mustard in Thatcher 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. If you wait any later than that and your mustard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your mustard indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Thatcher the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Thatcher may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Thatcher last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your mustard in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Thatcher

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 Thatcher

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