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.

A way of determining when you can plant strawberries is to refer to the USDA zone info for Commerce.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Strawberries do well in cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Commerce 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your strawberries indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Commerce the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Commerce is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Commerce you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your strawberries if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Commerce

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Commerce

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