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.

In Ellsworth you can determine when it's the best time to plant leeks by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Leeks

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

Since leeks are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant leeks in Ellsworth 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 leeks and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your leeks may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your leeks indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Ellsworth is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ellsworth last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your leeks if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ellsworth

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 Ellsworth

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