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.

The earliest that you can plant basket of gold in Mattoon should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Basket of Gold

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

Since basket of gold do well in cold you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant basket of gold in Mattoon 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 basket of gold and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your basket of gold may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your basket of gold indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Mattoon. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Mattoon is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mattoon it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your basket of gold if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mattoon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mattoon

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