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

You will be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant sweet corn by using the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Sweet corn

Frost tolerance for sweet corn:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Sweet corn tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant sweet corn in Madison 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 corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sweet corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your sweet corn indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Madison. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your sweet corn in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.