When to Plant Snow-in Summer in Alton, IL

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.

One way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant snow-in summer is to look at the USDA zone info for Alton.


Planting Calendar for Snow-in Summer

Frost tolerance for snow-in summer: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Snow-in Summer are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant snow-in summer
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant snow-in summer
Probably not a good time to plant snow-in summer

The earliest that you can plant snow-in summer in Alton 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 snow-in summer and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your snow-in summer may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your snow-in summer indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Alton. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Alton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your snow-in summer in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Alton

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