One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's a good idea to plant potatos in Ephrata by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Since potatos are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant potatos in Ephrata 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your potatos may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Ephrata. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ephrata is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ephrata you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your potatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ephrata

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 Ephrata

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