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 figure out when to plant potatos in Billings by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Potatos are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant potatos in Billings 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Billings the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Billings is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Billings you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your potatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Billings

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 Billings

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