Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant eggplants is to use the USDA zone info for Marion.

Planting Calendar for Eggplants

Frost tolerance for eggplants:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Eggplants are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant eggplants in Marion 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 eggplants and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your eggplants may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your eggplants indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Marion. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Marion is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Marion it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your eggplants in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marion

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 Marion

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