One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 USDA zone info for Dowagiac can be used to estimate when you can plant neeps.

Planting Calendar for Neeps

Frost tolerance for neeps:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Neeps do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant neeps in Dowagiac 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 neeps and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your neeps may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your neeps indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

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

USDA Zone Info for Dowagiac

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 Dowagiac

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