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

A common way of determining when to plant fennel is to consult the USDA zone info for Rumson.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Since fennel 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 fennel in Rumson 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. If you wait any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your fennel indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Rumson. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rumson may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Rumson you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your fennel if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rumson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Rumson

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