When to Plant Cucumbers in Salem, IL

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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant cucumbers is to look at the USDA zone info for Salem.


Planting Calendar for Cucumbers

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

Cucumbers are not cold tolerant which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Salem may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Salem there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cucumbers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Salem

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 Salem

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Salem.