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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for South Sioux City you will be able to determine when it's the best time to plant fennel.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel do well in cold which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in South Sioux City 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fennel may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your fennel indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in South Sioux City. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for South Sioux City is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in South Sioux City there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your fennel in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Sioux City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in South Sioux City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Sioux City.