One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 to plant mustard greens is to use the USDA zone info for Traverse City.

Planting Calendar for Mustard greens

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

Since mustard greens do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant mustard greens in Traverse City 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 mustard greens and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mustard greens may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your mustard greens indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Traverse City the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Traverse City may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Traverse City there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your mustard greens in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Traverse City

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 Traverse City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Traverse City.