One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 first opportunity to plant beets in Mason City should be figured out by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Beets

Frost tolerance for beets:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Beets do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Mason City 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your beets indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mason City. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mason City is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mason City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your beets in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mason City

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 Mason City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mason City.