One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Elgin it's possible to determine when to plant stocks.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

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

Stocks do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant stocks in Elgin 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 stocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your stocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your stocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Elgin. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Elgin is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Elgin you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your stocks if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elgin

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 Elgin

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