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.

In Big Lake you can figure out when to plant primula by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Primula

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

Since primula are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant primula in Big Lake 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 primula and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your primula may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your primula indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Big Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Big Lake and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Big Lake you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your primula in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Big Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Big Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Big Lake.