The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant millet is to check out the USDA zone info for Rock Island.

Planting Calendar for Millet

Frost tolerance for millet:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Millet require warm weather which means that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant millet in Rock Island 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 millet and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your millet may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your millet indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Rock Island the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rock Island may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rock Island it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your millet in the event of a 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.