When to Plant Beets in Clear Lake, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Clear Lake should be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant beets.

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Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Beets tend to make it in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant beets
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant beets
Probably not a good time to plant beets

The earliest that you can plant beets in Clear Lake 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your beets indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Clear Lake the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Clear Lake and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Clear Lake it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your beets in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Clear Lake

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 Clear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Clear Lake.