When to Plant Cabbage in Manhattan, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Manhattan it's a good idea to figure out when to plant cabbage.


Planting Calendar for Cabbage

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

Cabbage do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant cabbage in Manhattan 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 cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Manhattan. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Manhattan is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Manhattan last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your cabbage in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Manhattan

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 Manhattan

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Manhattan.