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.

The first chance to plant napa cabbage in Rockford can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

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

You can plant napa cabbage quite a bit earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Rockford 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your napa cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Rockford. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rockford is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Rockford it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your napa cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

Plants to Grow in Rockford

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