Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Harvard you can determine when it's a good idea to plant stocks by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

Frost tolerance for stocks:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Stocks are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your stocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Harvard is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Harvard you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your stocks in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Harvard

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Harvard

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