One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You should be able to figure out when to plant romaine lettuce by using the USDA zone info for Longboat Key.

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 are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Longboat Key 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 romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your romaine lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Longboat Key the average date of last frost happens on January 31. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Longboat Key and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Longboat Key last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your romaine lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Longboat Key

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 Longboat Key

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Longboat Key.