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 getting a good idea when it's possible to plant leeks is to look at the USDA zone info for Mankato.

Planting Calendar for Leeks

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

Leeks do ok in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant leeks in Mankato 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 leeks and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your leeks may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your leeks indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Mankato 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 Mankato you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your leeks in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mankato

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 Mankato

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