Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when you can plant strawberries is to look at the USDA zone info for Pittsfield.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Strawberries do ok in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Pittsfield 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your strawberries may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your strawberries indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Pittsfield the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Pittsfield is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Pittsfield it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your strawberries in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pittsfield

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 Pittsfield

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