When to Plant Red cabbage in Lake Bluff, IL

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 making a decision about when you can plant red cabbage is to examine the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff.


Planting Calendar for Red cabbage

Frost tolerance for red cabbage: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red cabbage tend to make it in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant red cabbage in Lake Bluff 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 red cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your red cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your red cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Bluff the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Bluff and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Bluff there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your red cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Bluff

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 Lake Bluff

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