One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant sweet potatos is to use the USDA zone info for River Forest.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Sweet Potatos do not do well in cold weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in River Forest 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 sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet potatos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in River Forest. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for River Forest is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in River Forest last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your sweet potatos if you have a surprise late frost.

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.