One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 best time to plant cabbage in Rapid City can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cabbage

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

Cabbage tend to make it in some cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cabbage in Rapid City is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Rapid City. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rapid City and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Rapid City you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cabbage if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.