One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The first opportunity to plant iceberg lettuce in Independence should be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Iceberg lettuce

Frost tolerance for iceberg lettuce:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant iceberg lettuce just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in Independence 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 iceberg lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your iceberg lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your iceberg 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 March 15 in Independence. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Independence is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Independence it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your iceberg lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Independence

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Independence

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