One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 USDA zone info for Northfield can be reviewed to determine when it's the best time to plant lettuce.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

Frost tolerance for lettuce:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Lettuce do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Northfield 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Northfield the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Northfield is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Northfield you get a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Northfield

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 Northfield

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