The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant strawberries is to examine the USDA zone info for East Peoria.

Planting Calendar for Strawberries

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

You can plant strawberries much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant strawberries in East Peoria 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. If you wait any later than that and your strawberries may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your strawberries indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in East Peoria. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for East Peoria is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in East Peoria you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your strawberries in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Peoria

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 East Peoria

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