One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You should be able to estimate when you can plant beets by checking out the USDA zone info for Alfred.

Planting Calendar for Beets

Frost tolerance for beets:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since beets are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Alfred 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your beets indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Alfred the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Alfred is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alfred you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your beets if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alfred

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Alfred

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