One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant new zealand spinach is to check out the USDA zone info for Portland.

Planting Calendar for New Zealand spinach

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

Since new zealand spinach are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant new zealand spinach in Portland 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 new zealand spinach and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your new zealand spinach may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your new zealand spinach indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Portland. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Portland is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Portland it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your new zealand spinach if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Portland

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