One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

A way of making a decision about when you can plant rhubarb is to use the USDA zone info for Herkimer.

Planting Calendar for Rhubarb

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

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

The earliest that you can plant rhubarb in Herkimer 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 rhubarb and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your rhubarb may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your rhubarb indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Herkimer. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Herkimer is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Herkimer it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your rhubarb in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Herkimer

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 Herkimer

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