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

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in West Chicago can be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

Romaine lettuce are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in West Chicago 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 romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your romaine lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in West Chicago. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for West Chicago is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in West Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your romaine lettuce if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

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 West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.