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.

In Crete you can determine when it's the best time to plant lettuce by using 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.

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

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Crete 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Crete the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Crete and it is different every year. Half of the time in Crete you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Crete

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 Crete

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