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

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant amaranthus is to use the USDA zone info for Urbandale.

Planting Calendar for Amaranthus

Frost tolerance for amaranthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant amaranthus until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant amaranthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your amaranthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your amaranthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Urbandale. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Urbandale is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Urbandale it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your amaranthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Urbandale

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 Urbandale

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