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 snow-in summer by referring to the USDA zone info for Big Rapids.

Planting Calendar for Snow-in Summer

Frost tolerance for snow-in summer:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant snow-in summer a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant snow-in summer in Big Rapids 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 snow-in summer and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your snow-in summer may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your snow-in summer indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Big Rapids the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Big Rapids is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Big Rapids you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your snow-in summer if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Big Rapids

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Rapids.