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.

A common way of estimating when you can plant fennel is to check out the USDA zone info for New Ulm.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel do ok in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in New Ulm 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. Any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your fennel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in New Ulm. 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 New Ulm may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in New Ulm it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your fennel if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Ulm

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 New Ulm

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Ulm.