One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Manchester you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant iceberg lettuce by looking at the USDA zone info.

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 ok in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in Manchester 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. Any later than that and 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 little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Manchester. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Manchester is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Manchester last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your iceberg lettuce in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Manchester

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 Manchester

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