One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In New Bedford you can figure out when it's the best time to plant romaine lettuce by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

You can plant romaine lettuce earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in New Bedford 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 romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your romaine lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in New Bedford. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for New Bedford may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in New Bedford you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your romaine lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Bedford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in New Bedford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Bedford.