Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant neeps is to look at the USDA zone info for Evanston.

Planting Calendar for Neeps

Frost tolerance for neeps:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant neeps until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant neeps in Evanston is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant neeps and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your neeps may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your neeps indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Evanston. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Evanston and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Evanston last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your neeps in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Evanston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°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 -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Evanston

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