One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The USDA zone info for Ankeny can be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant iceberg lettuce.

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.

Since iceberg lettuce are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in Ankeny 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. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your iceberg lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Ankeny. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Ankeny is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ankeny it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your iceberg lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ankeny

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Ankeny

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