One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The earliest that you can plant leeks in Portland should be estimated 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.

Leeks are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant leeks in Portland 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 fully mature. If you are starting your leeks indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Portland is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Portland it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your leeks in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

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 Portland

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