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

A way of getting a good idea when you can plant lettuce is to look at the USDA zone info for Rome.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

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

Since lettuce do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Rome 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rome the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rome is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rome it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rome

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rome

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