One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 Pekin should be reviewed to figure out when to plant sorrel.

Planting Calendar for Sorrel

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

Sorrel do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sorrel 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 sorrel and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sorrel may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sorrel 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.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Pekin and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Pekin it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your sorrel in the event of 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.