Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant fennel is to refer to the USDA zone info for South Plainfield.

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 a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in South Plainfield 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 grow to maturity. Starting your fennel indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Plainfield. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Plainfield is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in South Plainfield you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your fennel in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Plainfield

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 South Plainfield

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