Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when you can plant fennel is to use the USDA zone info for Plainfield.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel do well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Plainfield 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your fennel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Plainfield. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Plainfield is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Plainfield there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your fennel if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Plainfield

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 Plainfield

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