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 should be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant napa cabbage by looking at the USDA zone info for Deerfield.

Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

Since napa cabbage are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Deerfield. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Deerfield is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Deerfield you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your napa cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Deerfield

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 Deerfield

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