One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Loudon you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant stocks by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

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

Since stocks are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant stocks in Loudon is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your stocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Loudon. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Loudon is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Loudon you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your stocks if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Loudon

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 Loudon

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