One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Bloomington can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

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 pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Bloomington 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your strawberries 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 Bloomington. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Bloomington is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bloomington you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your strawberries in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bloomington

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 Bloomington

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