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

One way of figuring out when to plant strawberries is to examine the USDA zone info for Monroe.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Since strawberries are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Monroe 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 strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your strawberries indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Monroe. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Monroe is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Monroe you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your strawberries if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Monroe

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 Monroe

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