One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The earliest that you can plant garden orache in Ottumwa can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Garden Orache

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

Since garden orache do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant garden orache in Ottumwa 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 garden orache and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your garden orache may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your garden orache indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ottumwa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ottumwa is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ottumwa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your garden orache if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ottumwa

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 Ottumwa

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