The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Yakima should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time 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 do ok in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Yakima 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. If you wait any later than that and your fennel may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your fennel indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Yakima is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Yakima you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your fennel in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Yakima

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 Yakima

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