When to Plant Radicchio in Machesney Park, 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant radicchio is to consult the USDA zone info for Machesney Park.


Planting Calendar for Radicchio

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

Radicchio do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant radicchio in Machesney 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 radicchio and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your radicchio may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your radicchio indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Machesney Park. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Machesney Park is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Machesney Park it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your radicchio if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Machesney 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 Machesney Park

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