One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Decorah it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant asparagus.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

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

Asparagus do ok in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Decorah is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your asparagus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Decorah. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Decorah and it is different every year. Half of the time in Decorah there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your asparagus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decorah

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Decorah

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