When to Plant Romaine lettuce in Albany, NY

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Albany should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

Since romaine lettuce are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Albany 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 really do well. 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 Albany. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albany may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Albany you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your romaine lettuce if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albany

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Albany

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