One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant lettuce in Waterville by referring to 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.

Lettuce are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Waterville 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. If you wait any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Waterville. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Waterville may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterville it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your lettuce if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterville

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