When to Plant Sweet Potato Vine in Swarthmore, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant sweet potato vine is to use the USDA zone info for Swarthmore.


Planting Calendar for Sweet Potato Vine

Frost tolerance for sweet potato vine: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Since sweet potato vine are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sweet potato vine
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sweet potato vine
Probably not a good time to plant sweet potato vine

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Swarthmore. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember 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 Swarthmore and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Swarthmore there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your sweet potato vine if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Swarthmore

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 Swarthmore

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