One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 referring to the USDA zone info for Mount Carmel you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant purslane.

Planting Calendar for Purslane

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

Since purslane are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant purslane in Mount Carmel 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 purslane and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purslane may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your purslane indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Carmel is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Carmel last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your purslane if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Carmel

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 Mount Carmel

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Carmel.