When to Plant Asparagus in West Lafayette, IN

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

The best time to plant asparagus in West Lafayette should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Asparagus

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

Asparagus are very cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant asparagus
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant asparagus
Probably not a good time to plant asparagus

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in West Lafayette 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

In West Lafayette the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for West Lafayette is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in West Lafayette you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your asparagus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Lafayette

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 West Lafayette

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Lafayette.