One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for East Lansing it's a good idea to figure out when to plant alternaria.

Planting Calendar for Alternaria

Frost tolerance for alternaria:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You really shouldn't plant alternaria until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant alternaria in East Lansing 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 alternaria and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your alternaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your alternaria indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in East Lansing. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for East Lansing is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in East Lansing last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your alternaria in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Lansing

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 East Lansing

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Lansing.