One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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 figuring out when it's a good idea to plant asparagus is to use the USDA zone info for Monticello.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

Frost tolerance for asparagus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant asparagus quite a bit earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Monticello 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 asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your asparagus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Monticello. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Monticello is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Monticello you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your asparagus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Monticello

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 Monticello

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