One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant sweet corn is to look at the USDA zone info for Tampa.

Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

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

Sweet corn are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Tampa is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your sweet corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your sweet corn indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Tampa. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Tampa is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Tampa it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sweet corn if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tampa

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 Tampa

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