One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the 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.

You will be able to figure out when it's possible to plant potatos by using the USDA zone info for Lake Villa.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

Potatos do ok in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant potatos in Lake Villa is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your potatos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lake Villa. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Villa and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Villa you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your potatos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Villa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Villa

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