Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant strawberries is to consult the USDA zone info for Donora.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Since strawberries are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Donora 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your strawberries indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Donora the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Keep in mind 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 Donora and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Donora it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your strawberries if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Donora

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Donora

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