When to Plant Bok Choi in Franklin Park, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for Franklin Park you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant bok choi.


Planting Calendar for Bok Choi

Frost tolerance for bok choi: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since bok choi do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant bok choi in Franklin Park 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 bok choi and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bok choi may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bok choi indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Franklin Park. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Franklin Park may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Franklin Park you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your bok choi if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin 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 Franklin Park

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