One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for West Chicago can be read to determine when to plant snow-in summer.

Planting Calendar for Snow-in Summer

Frost tolerance for snow-in summer:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant snow-in summer a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant snow-in summer in West Chicago 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 snow-in summer and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your snow-in summer may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your snow-in summer indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in West Chicago. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Chicago and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in West Chicago it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your snow-in summer if you have 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.