When to Plant Lettuce in Ridgewood, NJ

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant lettuce in Ridgewood should be determined 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.

Lettuce are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant lettuce
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant lettuce
Probably not a good time to plant lettuce

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Ridgewood 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. Starting your lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Ridgewood. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ridgewood and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Ridgewood it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgewood

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 Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°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 Ridgewood

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