When to Plant Lettuce in Knoxville, TN

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Knoxville it's possible to determine when you can plant lettuce.


Planting Calendar for Lettuce

Frost tolerance for lettuce: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Lettuce are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle 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 Knoxville 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Knoxville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Knoxville is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Knoxville last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your lettuce if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Knoxville

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 Knoxville

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