One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

You can figure out when you can plant mustard greens in Ottumwa by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mustard greens

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

Mustard greens do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ottumwa. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ottumwa may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ottumwa you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your mustard greens 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.