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

The first chance to plant asparagus in Waterloo should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

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

Asparagus do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Waterloo 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 asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your asparagus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Waterloo. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Waterloo you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your asparagus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

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 Waterloo

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