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.

The USDA zone info for North Chicago should be looked at to estimate when it's possible to plant cauliflower.

Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

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

Cauliflower do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant cauliflower 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 cauliflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cauliflower may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cauliflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in North Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in North Chicago you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your cauliflower in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.