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.

A common way of determining when you can plant cauliflower is to use the USDA zone info for Rock Island.

Planting Calendar for Cauliflower

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

Since cauliflower do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cauliflower in Rock Island 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 cauliflower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cauliflower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cauliflower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rock Island the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Rock Island is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rock Island you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cauliflower if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rock Island

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 Rock Island

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rock Island.