One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 making a decision about when to plant lettuce is to look at the USDA zone info for Piedmont.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

Frost tolerance for lettuce:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since lettuce are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Piedmont is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Piedmont. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Piedmont is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Piedmont you get a frost after January 31 so always be ready to protect your lettuce if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Piedmont

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