When to Plant Stocks in Evanston, IL

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

The first opportunity to plant stocks in Evanston can be figured out by reviewing 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.

Stocks do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle 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 Evanston 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Evanston is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Evanston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your stocks in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Evanston

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 Evanston

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