One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 way of determining when you can plant fennel is to use the USDA zone info for Apopka.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

You can plant fennel much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Apopka is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant fennel and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your fennel indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Apopka. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Apopka may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Apopka there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your fennel in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Apopka

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Apopka

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