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 USDA zone info for Pekin can be reviewed to determine when it's possible to plant beets.

Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Beets tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Pekin. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Pekin and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Pekin it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your beets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pekin

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 Pekin

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