Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 possible to plant stocks is to use the USDA zone info for Louisville.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

Frost tolerance for stocks:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Stocks are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The last month that you can plant stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your stocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Louisville the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Louisville and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Louisville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your stocks in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Louisville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

Plants to Grow in Louisville

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