When to Plant Iceberg lettuce in Eldridge, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to figure out when you can plant iceberg lettuce by reviewing the USDA zone info for Eldridge.


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.

Iceberg lettuce do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant iceberg lettuce
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant iceberg lettuce
Probably not a good time to plant iceberg lettuce

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in Eldridge 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your iceberg lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your iceberg lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Eldridge the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Eldridge is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Eldridge last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your iceberg lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Eldridge

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Eldridge

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