One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A way of getting a good idea when you can plant corn is to use the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais.

Planting Calendar for Corn

Frost tolerance for corn:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since corn require warm weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant corn in Bourbonnais is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant corn and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your corn may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your corn indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Bourbonnais. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bourbonnais is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bourbonnais you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your corn if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bourbonnais

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 Bourbonnais

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