The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant borage is to look at the USDA zone info for Merrillville.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Since borage are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Merrillville 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Merrillville and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Merrillville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your borage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Merrillville

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 Merrillville

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