Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Pekin can be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Since chicory do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Pekin 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Pekin 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 Pekin is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Pekin it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your chicory if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pekin

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 Pekin

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