When to Plant Mustard in Philadelphia, PA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when to plant mustard in Philadelphia by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Mustard

Frost tolerance for mustard: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant mustard until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant mustard
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant mustard
Probably not a good time to plant mustard

The earliest that you can plant mustard in Philadelphia is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mustard and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mustard may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your mustard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Philadelphia. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Philadelphia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

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

Plants to Grow in Philadelphia

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