One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 looking at the USDA zone info for Lancaster you will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant stocks.

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.

Stocks can survive in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant stocks in Lancaster 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. If you wait any later than that and your stocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lancaster. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

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. Since half of the time in Lancaster you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your stocks in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.