One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's possible to estimate when it's the best time to plant spinach by reviewing the USDA zone info for Waukegan.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

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

You can plant spinach a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Waukegan 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 spinach and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your spinach may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your spinach indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Waukegan and it is different every year. Half of the time in Waukegan it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your spinach if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waukegan

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 Waukegan

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