One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Niles you can determine when you can plant borage by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Since borage do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Niles 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your borage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your borage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Niles is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Niles there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your borage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Niles

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 Niles

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