When to Plant Radishes in East Lansing, MI

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 East Lansing should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant radishes.


Planting Calendar for Radishes

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

Since radishes do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant radishes
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant radishes
Probably not a good time to plant radishes

The earliest that you can plant radishes 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 radishes and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your radishes may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your radishes indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for East Lansing and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in East Lansing you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your radishes if you have a 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.