When to Plant Romaine lettuce in Batavia, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Batavia you can determine when it's a good idea to plant romaine lettuce by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

Frost tolerance for romaine lettuce: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since romaine lettuce are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Batavia 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 romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your romaine lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Batavia the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Batavia may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Batavia there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your romaine lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Batavia

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 Batavia

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