When to Plant Mustard greens in Waterloo, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 USDA zone info for Waterloo should be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant mustard greens.


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 can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant mustard greens
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant mustard greens
Probably not a good time to plant mustard greens

The earliest that you can plant mustard greens 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 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 really do well. 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 Waterloo. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Waterloo and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Waterloo you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your mustard greens in the event of a surprise 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.