One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 USDA zone info for Richmond should be reviewed to determine when it's possible to plant romaine lettuce.

Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

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

You can plant romaine lettuce earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Richmond is January. However, you really should wait until February 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 October. Any later than that and your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your romaine lettuce indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Richmond. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your romaine lettuce if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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