Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Portage should be reviewed to determine when it's possible to plant stocks.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

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

Stocks do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant stocks in Portage 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 stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your stocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Portage. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portage is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Portage it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your stocks if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portage

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 Portage

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