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

You should be able to estimate when it's possible to plant stocks by referring to the USDA zone info for Mchenry.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

Frost tolerance for stocks:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Stocks can survive in very little cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant stocks in Mchenry is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your stocks may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your stocks indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mchenry 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 Mchenry is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mchenry it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your stocks if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mchenry

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 Mchenry

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