Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant spinach is to check out the USDA zone info for Waterloo.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

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

Since spinach do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Waterloo may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Waterloo it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your spinach in the event of a surprise 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.