One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

The first opportunity to plant portulaca in Mitchell can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Portulaca

Frost tolerance for portulaca:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Portulaca require warm weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant portulaca and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your portulaca may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your portulaca indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Mitchell. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mitchell is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mitchell you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your portulaca if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mitchell

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 Mitchell

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