When to Plant Iceberg lettuce in South Elgin, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for South Elgin it's a good idea to figure out when you can plant iceberg lettuce.


Planting Calendar for Iceberg lettuce

Frost tolerance for iceberg lettuce: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Iceberg lettuce do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in South Elgin is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant iceberg lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your iceberg lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your iceberg lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South Elgin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for South Elgin may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in South Elgin you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your iceberg lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Elgin

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 South Elgin

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Elgin.