When to Plant Beets in Zone 3b

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Zone 3b you can figure out when it's possible to plant beets by reviewing the USDA zone info.


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 moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant beets in Zone 3b 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your beets indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Zone 3b. You should expect an average low temperature of -35°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 3b is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 3b you get a frost after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your beets if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-35°F
Highest Expected Low-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3b

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