Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Crest Hill you can figure out when it's the best time to plant strawberries by referring to 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 tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in Crest Hill 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your strawberries may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your strawberries indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Crest Hill is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Crest Hill last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your strawberries in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crest Hill

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 Crest Hill

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Crest Hill.