One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The first chance to plant iceberg lettuce in South Bend can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Iceberg lettuce

Frost tolerance for iceberg lettuce:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Iceberg lettuce do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in South Bend is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant iceberg lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your iceberg lettuce may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your iceberg lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in South Bend. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for South Bend is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in South Bend you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your iceberg lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Bend

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 South Bend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Bend.