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.

A common way of determining when you can plant fennel is to examine the USDA zone info for Dodge City.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Dodge City 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. 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 Dodge City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dodge City and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Dodge City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your fennel in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dodge City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Dodge City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Dodge City.