When to Plant Lettuce in Carbondale, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's possible to plant lettuce in Carbondale by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Lettuce

Frost tolerance for lettuce: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant lettuce just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Carbondale 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Carbondale. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Carbondale is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Carbondale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lettuce if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carbondale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Carbondale

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