When to Plant Chinese celery in Ottawa, IL

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant chinese celery is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ottawa.


Planting Calendar for Chinese celery

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

Since chinese celery are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chinese celery
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chinese celery
Probably not a good time to plant chinese celery

The earliest that you can plant chinese celery in Ottawa 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 chinese celery and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chinese celery may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your chinese celery indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Ottawa there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your chinese celery in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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