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 fennel in Litchfield should be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel tend to make it in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Litchfield. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Litchfield is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Litchfield there is a last frost after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your fennel if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Litchfield

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 Litchfield

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