One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

You will be able to determine when it's possible to plant potatos by checking out the USDA zone info for Dubuque.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Potatos do well in cold which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Dubuque 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 USDA zone info for Dubuque may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Dubuque you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your potatos in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dubuque

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 Dubuque

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