One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 The Dalles can be reffered to in order to figure out when to plant potatos.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Potatos tend to make it in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant potatos in The Dalles 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your potatos may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in The Dalles. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for The Dalles is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in The Dalles there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your potatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for The Dalles

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in The Dalles

You may be interested in your other planting guides for The Dalles.