One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when to plant clover in North Chicago by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Clover

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

You can plant clover slightly earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant clover in North Chicago 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 clover and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your clover may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your clover indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for North Chicago is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in North Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your clover 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.