One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 common way of determining when to plant lettuce is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

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

Lettuce do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Ponchatoula 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 fully mature. If you are starting your lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ponchatoula the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Ponchatoula you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your lettuce if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ponchatoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ponchatoula

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