When to Plant Cucumbers in Elmwood Park, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Elmwood Park can be reviewed to figure out when it's possible to plant cucumbers.


Planting Calendar for Cucumbers

Frost tolerance for cucumbers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant cucumbers until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant cucumbers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant cucumbers
Probably not a good time to plant cucumbers

The earliest that you can plant cucumbers in Elmwood Park is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cucumbers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cucumbers may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cucumbers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Elmwood Park. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Elmwood Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cucumbers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elmwood Park

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 Elmwood Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elmwood Park.