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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Ottawa it's a good idea to determine when you can plant beets.

Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Beets tend to make it in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Ottawa 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your beets indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ottawa is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your beets in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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