The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant black radish is to use the USDA zone info for East Lansing.

Planting Calendar for Black radish

Frost tolerance for black radish:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Black radish do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant black radish in East Lansing 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 black radish and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your black radish may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your black radish indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for East Lansing is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in East Lansing it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your black radish in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.