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.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant spinach is to refer to the USDA zone info for Mishawaka.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

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

Spinach can survive in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Mishawaka 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 spinach and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your spinach may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your spinach indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mishawaka the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mishawaka is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mishawaka it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your spinach if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mishawaka

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 Mishawaka

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