One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant asparagus is to check out the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

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

Asparagus tend to make it in cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Charleston is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your asparagus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your asparagus indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Charleston. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Charleston is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Charleston it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your asparagus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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