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

In Sterling you can determine when it's a good idea to plant alternaria by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Alternaria

Frost tolerance for alternaria:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant alternaria until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant alternaria in Sterling is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant alternaria and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alternaria may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your alternaria indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Sterling. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sterling and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Sterling you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your alternaria if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

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 Sterling

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