Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Matteson you can figure out when you can plant romaine lettuce by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

Romaine lettuce can survive in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Matteson 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 romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your romaine lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Matteson. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Matteson is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Matteson you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your romaine lettuce if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Matteson

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 Matteson

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