One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 determine when it's the best time to plant lettuce in Albert Lea by checking out 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.

Since lettuce are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Albert Lea is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Albert Lea. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albert Lea is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Albert Lea there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albert Lea

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Albert Lea

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Albert Lea.