One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when to plant potatos is to check out the USDA zone info for Racine.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Potatos do well in a bit of cold which means 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 potatos in Racine 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 potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your potatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Racine. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Racine is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Racine there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your potatos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Racine

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Racine

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