One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant asparagus is to look at the USDA zone info for Sheldon.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

Frost tolerance for asparagus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Asparagus are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Sheldon is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asparagus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your asparagus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sheldon the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sheldon is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Sheldon you get a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your asparagus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sheldon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Sheldon

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