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

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant sweet potatos is to check out the USDA zone info for Salem.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You can not plant sweet potatos until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos 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 sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sweet potatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Salem may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Salem you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your sweet potatos if you have 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.