One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Hastings should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

Frost tolerance for balsam:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Balsam require warm weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Hastings is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant balsam and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your balsam may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your balsam indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Hastings. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hastings is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Hastings last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your balsam in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hastings

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 Hastings

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