One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 Houghton should be reffered to in order to estimate when you can plant beets.

Planting Calendar for Beets

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

You can plant beets a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Houghton 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your beets indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Houghton 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 Houghton is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Houghton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your beets in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Houghton

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 Houghton

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