Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant potatos is to look at the USDA zone info for Howell.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

You can plant potatos earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant potatos in Howell 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your potatos may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your potatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Howell. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Howell may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Howell there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your potatos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Howell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Howell

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