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.

You will be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant napa cabbage by referring to the USDA zone info for Rochester.

Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

Since napa cabbage are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Rochester 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your napa cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Rochester. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rochester there is a last frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your napa cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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