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

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Keokuk should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Keokuk 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your thyme indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Keokuk. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Keokuk is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Keokuk last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your thyme if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Keokuk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Keokuk

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