When to Plant Basket of Gold in Storm Lake, IA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Storm Lake it's possible to determine when to plant basket of gold.


Planting Calendar for Basket of Gold

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

Basket of Gold are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant basket of gold
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant basket of gold
Probably not a good time to plant basket of gold

The earliest that you can plant basket of gold in Storm Lake 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 basket of gold and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your basket of gold may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your basket of gold indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Storm Lake the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Storm Lake and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Storm Lake last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your basket of gold if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Storm Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-20°F
Highest Expected Low-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Storm Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Storm Lake.