One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 figure out when it's a good idea to plant cucumbers.

Planting Calendar for Cucumbers

Frost tolerance for cucumbers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cucumbers until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cucumbers in North Chicago is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cucumbers and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cucumbers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cucumbers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost 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 just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in North Chicago you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cucumbers if you have 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.