One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Salem you can figure out when you can plant cauliflower by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

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

You can plant cauliflower a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cauliflower in Salem 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 cauliflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cauliflower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cauliflower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Salem the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Salem is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Salem last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cauliflower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

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 Salem

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