When to Plant Fennel in Zone 3b

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening 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 you can plant fennel by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 3b and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 3b you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your fennel if you have one of those late frosts.

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.