When to Plant Leeks in Zone 3a

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Zone 3a can be used to figure out when it's a good idea to plant leeks.


Planting Calendar for Leeks

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

Leeks do ok in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant leeks
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant leeks
Probably not a good time to plant leeks

The earliest that you can plant leeks in Zone 3a 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 leeks and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your leeks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your leeks indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 3a the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -40°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 3a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 3a last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your leeks if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-40°F
Highest Expected Low-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 3a.