When to Plant Napa cabbage in Lake Zurich, 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 estimate when it's a good idea to plant napa cabbage in Lake Zurich by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

Since napa cabbage are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Lake Zurich 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your napa cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind 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 Zurich and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Zurich there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your napa cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Zurich

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 Zurich

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