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

A way of estimating when to plant mustard greens is to examine the USDA zone info for Island Lake.

Planting Calendar for Mustard greens

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

Since mustard greens are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant mustard greens in Island Lake 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 mustard greens and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your mustard greens may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your mustard greens indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Island Lake. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Island Lake is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Island Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your mustard greens in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Island Lake

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 Island Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Island Lake.