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When to Plant Iceberg lettuce in West Chicago, IL

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.

The first opportunity to plant iceberg lettuce in West Chicago should be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.


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 well in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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 West Chicago 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. If you wait any later than that and your iceberg lettuce may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your iceberg lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In West Chicago the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for West Chicago is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in West Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your iceberg lettuce in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for West Chicago

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 West Chicago

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Chicago.