One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Pittsfield you can figure out when it's the best time to plant potatos by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Potatos are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Pittsfield. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Pittsfield is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Pittsfield it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your potatos in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pittsfield

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 Pittsfield

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