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

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Mason City it's a good idea to determine when you can plant chicory.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory can survive in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Mason City. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mason City is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mason City last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your chicory if you have one of those late frosts.

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.