When to Plant Strawberries in Calumet City, IL

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

The best time to plant strawberries in Calumet City should be determined by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

Strawberries do well in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Calumet City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Calumet City is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Calumet City there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your strawberries in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Calumet City

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 Calumet City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Calumet City.