One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant romaine lettuce is to consult the USDA zone info for Carteret.

Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

Romaine lettuce are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Carteret 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 romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your romaine lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Carteret. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Carteret and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Carteret you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your romaine lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carteret

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Carteret

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