When to Plant Asparagus in Athens, OH

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Athens you can estimate when you can plant asparagus by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Asparagus

Frost tolerance for asparagus: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Asparagus tend to make it in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant asparagus
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant asparagus
Probably not a good time to plant asparagus

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Athens 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 asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your asparagus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your asparagus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Athens. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Athens and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Athens it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your asparagus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

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 Athens

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