When to Plant Beets in Ottawa, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of determining when to plant beets is to use the USDA zone info for Ottawa.

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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 a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year 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 Ottawa 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your beets may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your beets indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Ottawa. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ottawa may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your beets if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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