Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's the best time to plant red cabbage in Rockford by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Red cabbage

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

You can plant red cabbage earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant red 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 red cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your red cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your red cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rockford is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rockford you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your red cabbage if you have 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.