When to Plant Beets in Boston, MA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant beets in Boston should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Since beets are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant beets in Boston 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your beets indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Boston the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Boston is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Boston you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your beets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Boston

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 Low0°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 Boston

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