One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

One way of estimating when you can plant beets is to check out the USDA zone info for Dayton.

Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Since beets do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Dayton 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. Any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your beets indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Dayton. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dayton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Dayton you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your beets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

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 Dayton

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