When to Plant Cabbage in North Chicago, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for North Chicago it's a good idea to determine when it's possible 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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 North Chicago 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 fully mature. If you are starting your cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in North Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Chicago

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 North Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Chicago.