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 Medical Lake it's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant fennel.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Medical Lake 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your fennel indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Medical Lake the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Medical Lake may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Medical Lake you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your fennel if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Medical Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Medical Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Medical Lake.