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

The best time to plant napa cabbage in Ruidoso can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

You can plant napa cabbage a lot earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Ruidoso 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your napa cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ruidoso. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ruidoso may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ruidoso it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your napa cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruidoso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Ruidoso

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