When to Plant Romaine lettuce in Belvidere, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Belvidere you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant romaine lettuce by looking at 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.

You can plant romaine lettuce a lot earlier in the year because they do well in 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 Belvidere 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your romaine lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Belvidere. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Belvidere may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Belvidere last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your romaine lettuce if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Belvidere

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 Belvidere

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