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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Manchester it's a good idea to estimate when to plant neeps.

Planting Calendar for Neeps

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant neeps until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant neeps in Manchester 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 neeps and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your neeps may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your neeps indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Manchester. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Manchester and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Manchester last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your neeps in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

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 Manchester

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