One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant chicory in Loves Park can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

Frost tolerance for chicory:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Chicory do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Loves Park 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your chicory indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Loves Park 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 Loves Park may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Loves Park there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your chicory in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Loves Park

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 Loves Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Loves Park.