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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Shelbyville you will be able to estimate when you can plant strawberries.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Since strawberries do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Shelbyville 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your strawberries may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your strawberries indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Shelbyville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Shelbyville and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Shelbyville it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your strawberries if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shelbyville

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 Shelbyville

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