One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The USDA zone info for Waterville should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant chicory.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Since chicory are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Waterville 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chicory may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your chicory indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Waterville is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterville last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your chicory if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Waterville

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 Waterville

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