When to Plant Beets in Oskaloosa, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 USDA zone info for Oskaloosa can be looked at to estimate when you can plant beets.


Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Beets tend to make it in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant beets in Oskaloosa 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your beets indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Oskaloosa is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Oskaloosa you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your beets if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oskaloosa

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 Oskaloosa

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