One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A way of figuring out when you can plant candytuft is to refer to the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Candytuft

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

Since candytuft are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Columbus. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Columbus is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Columbus last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your candytuft if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

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 Columbus

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