One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant endive by checking out the USDA zone info for Helena.

Planting Calendar for Endive

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

Since endive are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant endive in Helena 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 endive and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your endive may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your endive indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Helena the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Helena is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Helena you get a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your endive in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Helena

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 Helena

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