One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 lettuce in Loves Park can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

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

You can plant lettuce a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Loves Park. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

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 Loves Park and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Loves Park you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.