One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant mustard is to use the USDA zone info for Lancaster.

Planting Calendar for Mustard

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

Since mustard require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mustard in Lancaster 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 mustard and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your mustard may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your mustard indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Lancaster. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Lancaster is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lancaster you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your mustard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lancaster

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 Lancaster

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