The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Des Moines you can figure out when you can plant chinese celery by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese celery

Frost tolerance for chinese celery:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant chinese celery a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese celery in Des Moines 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 chinese celery and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese celery may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chinese celery indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Des Moines the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Des Moines and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Des Moines you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your chinese celery in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Des Moines

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Des Moines

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Des Moines.