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

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant leeks is to use the USDA zone info for East Alton.

Planting Calendar for Leeks

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

Leeks are very cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

In East Alton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for East Alton may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in East Alton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your leeks in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for East Alton

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 East Alton

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Alton.