One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 the best time to plant celery is to refer to the USDA zone info for Hillsdale.

Planting Calendar for Celery

Frost tolerance for celery:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since celery are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant celery in Hillsdale is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant celery and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your celery may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your celery indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Hillsdale is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Hillsdale there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your celery if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hillsdale

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 Hillsdale

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