One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when you can plant sweet potatos by looking at the USDA zone info for Rice Lake.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant sweet potatos until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Rice Lake is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your sweet potatos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rice Lake the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rice Lake 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 Rice Lake you get a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your sweet potatos in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rice Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Rice Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rice Lake.