When to Plant Leeks in Willowbrook, IL

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant leeks is to refer to the USDA zone info for Willowbrook.


Planting Calendar for Leeks

Frost tolerance for leeks: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since leeks are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Willowbrook. In the coldest months of winter you can 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 Willowbrook and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Willowbrook you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your leeks if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Willowbrook

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 Willowbrook

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