One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 common way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant chicory is to check out the USDA zone info for Ankeny.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Ankeny 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your chicory indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Ankeny 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 Ankeny you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your chicory if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ankeny

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 Ankeny

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