One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Waterloo can be used to determine when it's the best time to plant cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Cabbage

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

Since cabbage are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant cabbage in Waterloo 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 cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Waterloo. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Waterloo it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your cabbage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterloo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterloo

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