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

In Federal Way you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant bok choi by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bok Choi

Frost tolerance for bok choi:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Bok Choi do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant bok choi in Federal Way 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 bok choi and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your bok choi may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bok choi indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Federal Way. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Federal Way is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Federal Way it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your bok choi if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Federal Way

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Federal Way

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Federal Way.