One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of determining when you can plant sweet corn is to use the USDA zone info for Ruidoso.

Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sweet corn do well in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Ruidoso 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 sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet corn may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your sweet corn indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ruidoso the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ruidoso and it changes 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 sweet corn in the event of a 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.