When to Plant Eggplants in Lake Forest, IL

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

The first chance to plant eggplants in Lake Forest can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Eggplants

Frost tolerance for eggplants: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

You should not plant eggplants until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant eggplants in Lake Forest is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant eggplants and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your eggplants may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your eggplants indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Forest and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Forest you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your eggplants in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.