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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Nanticoke it's a good idea to figure out when to plant fennel.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Since fennel are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Nanticoke 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your fennel indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Nanticoke. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Nanticoke is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Nanticoke you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your fennel if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Nanticoke

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 Nanticoke

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