When to Plant Endive in Mason City, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant endive by using the USDA zone info for Mason City.


Planting Calendar for Endive

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

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

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant endive
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant endive
Probably not a good time to plant endive

The earliest that you can plant endive 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 endive and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your endive may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your endive indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mason City is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mason City you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your endive 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.