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.

By using the USDA zone info for Laurel you should be able to determine when 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 moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Laurel 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. Any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Laurel the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Laurel is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Laurel you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

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 Laurel

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