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.

One way of estimating when you can plant potatos is to examine the USDA zone info for Hazel Crest.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

You can plant potatos quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant potatos in Hazel Crest 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your potatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your potatos indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hazel Crest. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Hazel Crest is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hazel Crest it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your potatos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hazel Crest

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 Hazel Crest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Hazel Crest.