One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You can figure out when to plant asparagus in Salem by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Asparagus

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

Asparagus do well in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant asparagus in Salem 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 asparagus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your asparagus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your asparagus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Salem. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Salem may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Salem there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your asparagus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Salem

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