One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

You should be able to figure out when you can plant mustard by looking at the USDA zone info for Salem.

Planting Calendar for Mustard

Frost tolerance for mustard:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Mustard do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mustard in Salem is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mustard and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mustard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your mustard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Salem. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Salem and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Salem last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your mustard in the event of a surprise 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.