One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

One way of determining when you can plant tagetes is to look at the USDA zone info for Winterset.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since tagetes do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Winterset 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Winterset is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Winterset you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your tagetes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winterset

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 Winterset

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