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

The first opportunity to plant fennel in Lafayette can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

Frost tolerance for fennel:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

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

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Lafayette 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your fennel indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Lafayette. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lafayette and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lafayette there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your fennel if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lafayette

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Lafayette

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