One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant radicchio by referring to the USDA zone info for Muscatine.

Planting Calendar for Radicchio

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

Since radicchio are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Muscatine is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Muscatine it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your radicchio if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Muscatine

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Muscatine

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