When to Plant Chinese cabbage in River Forest, 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 zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant chinese cabbage in River Forest should be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

You can plant chinese cabbage a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in River Forest 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 chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chinese cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in River Forest. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for River Forest may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in River Forest last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chinese cabbage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for River Forest

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in River Forest

You may be interested in your other planting guides for River Forest.