One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant banana is to refer to the USDA zone info for Keene.

Planting Calendar for Banana

Frost tolerance for banana:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant banana until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

The last month that you can plant banana and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your banana may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your banana indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Keene. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Keene is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Keene last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your banana if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Keene

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 Keene

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