One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Benson it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant romaine lettuce.

Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

Since romaine lettuce do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Benson 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. If you wait any later than that and your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your romaine lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Benson. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Benson is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Benson it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your romaine lettuce if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Benson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Benson

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