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

The USDA zone info for Mattoon should be used to figure out when to plant galium.

Planting Calendar for Galium

Frost tolerance for galium:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since galium are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant galium 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 galium and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your galium may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your galium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Mattoon. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Mattoon and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Mattoon there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your galium in the event of a 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.