One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant beets in Madison by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Beets

Frost tolerance for beets:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Beets can survive in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Madison the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Madison you get a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your beets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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