One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The USDA zone info for Viroqua should be reffered to in order to figure out when to plant thyme.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Since thyme are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather 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 thyme in Viroqua 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your thyme may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your thyme indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Viroqua is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Viroqua you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your thyme if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Viroqua

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 Viroqua

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