When to Plant Romaine lettuce in Darien, IL

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

The first chance to plant romaine lettuce in Darien should be estimated by checking out 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 quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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 Darien 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 fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your romaine lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Darien the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Darien is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Darien last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your romaine lettuce in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Darien

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 Darien

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