One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Decorah you can figure out when it's the best time to plant cauliflower by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

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

You can plant cauliflower a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant cauliflower 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 cauliflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your cauliflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Decorah is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Decorah it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your cauliflower if you have a surprise 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.