One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

It's possible to estimate when to plant cauliflower by referring to the USDA zone info for Ames.

Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

Frost tolerance for cauliflower:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Cauliflower are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant cauliflower in Ames 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 cauliflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cauliflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cauliflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ames. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ames is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ames last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your cauliflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ames

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ames

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