One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when you can plant iceberg lettuce is to refer to the USDA zone info for Smithville.

Planting Calendar for Iceberg lettuce

Frost tolerance for iceberg lettuce:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Iceberg lettuce can survive in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in Smithville 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 iceberg lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your iceberg lettuce may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your iceberg lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Smithville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Smithville is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Smithville you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your iceberg lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithville

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 Smithville

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