One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Carbondale you will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant mustard.

Planting Calendar for Mustard

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant mustard until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant mustard in Carbondale 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 mustard and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mustard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your mustard indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Carbondale the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carbondale may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Carbondale you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your mustard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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