When to Plant Dill in Lake Forest, IL

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

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant dill in Lake Forest by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Dill

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

Dill do well in a tiny bit of cold which tells us that 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 dill
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant dill
Probably not a good time to plant dill

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

Last Frost Date

In Lake Forest the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Forest is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Forest it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your dill in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Forest

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 Forest

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