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.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant strawberries is to consult the USDA zone info for Big Rapids.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

You can plant strawberries quite a bit earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your strawberries indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

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 a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your strawberries in the event of a 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.