One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of getting a good idea when to plant napa cabbage is to check out the USDA zone info for Wilmette.

Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

Napa cabbage tend to make it in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Wilmette 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your napa cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Wilmette. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Wilmette is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Wilmette last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your napa cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmette

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 Wilmette

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