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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant radicchio is to consult the USDA zone info for Rapid City.

Planting Calendar for Radicchio

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

Since radicchio do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant radicchio 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 radicchio and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your radicchio may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your radicchio indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Rapid City is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rapid City it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your radicchio if you have one of those late frosts.

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.