One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Madison can be read to estimate when it's a good idea to plant bok choi.

Planting Calendar for Bok Choi

Frost tolerance for bok choi:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant bok choi a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant bok choi in Madison is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant bok choi and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your bok choi may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bok choi indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Madison the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Madison is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your bok choi if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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