One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when to plant fennel by referring to the USDA zone info for Fort Myers.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel do ok in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Fort Myers 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. Any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your fennel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Fort Myers. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Fort Myers is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Fort Myers there is a last frost after January 31 be ready to protect your fennel if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Myers

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Myers

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Myers.