One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant violets in Big Lake can be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Violets

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

Since violets are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant violets 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 violets and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your violets may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your violets indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Big Lake last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your violets if you have a surprise late frost.

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.