One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Fort Madison should be reffered to in order to estimate when to plant painted tongues.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

Frost tolerance for painted tongues:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant painted tongues until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Fort Madison is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your painted tongues indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Fort Madison the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Fort Madison and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fort Madison last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your painted tongues if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Madison

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 Fort Madison

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Madison.