One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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 common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant sweet corn is to refer to the USDA zone info for Independence.

Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sweet corn are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Independence is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sweet corn may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Independence and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Independence you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sweet corn in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

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 Independence

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