One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Sumter you can estimate when it's the best time to plant iceberg lettuce 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.

Since iceberg lettuce are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant iceberg lettuce in Sumter 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your iceberg lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Sumter the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sumter may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sumter last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your iceberg lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sumter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sumter

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