When to Plant Mustard in Lake Forest, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's possible to plant mustard in Lake Forest by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Mustard

Frost tolerance for mustard: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant mustard until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant mustard 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 mustard and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your mustard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your mustard indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lake Forest is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Forest there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your mustard 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.