When to Plant Stocks in Elmwood Park, IL

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant stocks in Elmwood Park can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Stocks

Frost tolerance for stocks: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since stocks are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

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

The last month that you can plant stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your stocks may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park and it is different every year. Half of the time in Elmwood Park last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your stocks if you have a late frost.

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.