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

In Marion you can determine when it's the best time to plant lettuce by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

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

Since lettuce are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Marion 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marion. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Marion is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Marion last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Marion

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Marion

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