One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant stevia is to check out the USDA zone info for Hammond.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

Frost tolerance for stevia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant stevia until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Hammond 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 stevia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your stevia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Hammond is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Hammond you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your stevia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hammond

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 Hammond

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