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.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant potatos is to examine the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Since potatos do well in cold you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

In Columbus the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Columbus 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 Columbus it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your potatos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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