One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant beets is to consult the USDA zone info for Columbus.

Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Beets do well in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Columbus 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your beets indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Columbus. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Columbus 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 Columbus last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your beets if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Columbus

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

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

Plants to Grow in Columbus

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