When to Plant Beets in Winthrop Harbor, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Winthrop Harbor can be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant beets.


Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Since beets are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant beets in Winthrop Harbor 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your beets may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your beets indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Winthrop Harbor is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Winthrop Harbor last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your beets in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Winthrop Harbor

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 Winthrop Harbor

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winthrop Harbor.