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.

In Altoona you can estimate when it's possible to plant strawberries by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Strawberries do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Altoona is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant strawberries and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your strawberries may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your strawberries indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Altoona. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Altoona may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Altoona it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your strawberries if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Altoona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Altoona

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