Regional guide
McHenry County Illinois Planting Guide
Illinois Extension McHenry County guide for seven vegetable planting windows, transplant labels, and fall harvest timing.
Climate signals
- The Vegetable Garden Planting Guide for McHenry County comes from Bruce Spangenberg's Yard and Garden Manual for McHenry County 3/01 Edition.
- The guide says its crop rows are by seed unless otherwise stated, so rows labeled plants should be treated as transplant rows.
- Use this as a McHenry County planting-window example, not one exact date set for statewide Illinois or nearby metro gardens.
Planning notes
- First planting is April 10 to 20 for asparagus, kale, kohlrabi, leaf lettuce, mustard, onion seeds and sets, peas, early potatoes, radishes, rhubarb, spinach, and early turnips.
- Second planting is April 25 to May 5 for beets, broccoli plants, cabbage plants, carrots, head lettuce, New Zealand spinach, parsley, parsnips, radishes, salsify, and Swiss chard.
- Third planting is May 10 to 20 for snap beans, sweet corn, and cauliflower plants.
- Fourth planting is May 15 to 31 for beets, carrots, cucumbers, eggplant plants, lima beans, sweet potatoes, peppers, snap beans, squash, tomatoes plants, watermelon, and muskmelon.
- Fifth planting is June 28 to July 8 for fall harvest rows including beets, broccoli plants, Brussels sprouts plants, cabbage plants, carrots, cauliflower plants, Chinese cabbage, endive, kale, pumpkin, snap beans, and summer squash.
- Sixth planting is July 17 to 26 for fall harvest rows of romaine lettuce, kohlrabi, late turnips, winter radishes, and snap beans.
- Seventh planting is August 11 to 20 for fall harvest rows of leaf lettuce, mustard, spinach, and spring radishes.
- Source rows without priority links include asparagus, early potatoes, rhubarb, New Zealand spinach, salsify, lima beans, sweet potatoes, generic squash, summer squash, and Chinese cabbage because the catalog lacks a clean crop match or the guide uses a broad source row.
- Use these priority catalog links as crop-row examples, not Illinois Extension cultivar recommendations.
Catalog crop examples
These catalog entries match crops covered by the regional timing source; variety-specific details remain tied to each seed entry's own source.
- Lacinato Kale Vegetable · Cool · 60 days
- Early White Vienna Kohlrabi Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
- Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Southern Giant Curled Mustard Vegetable · Cool · 45 days
- Evergreen Bunching Onion Vegetable · Shoulder · 65 days
- Sugar Snap Pea Vegetable · Cool · 62 days
- French Breakfast Radish Vegetable · Cool · 28 days
- Bloomsdale Spinach Vegetable · Cool · 42 days
- Purple Top White Globe Turnip Vegetable · Cool · 55 days
- Detroit Dark Red Beet Vegetable · Cool · 58 days
- Waltham 29 Broccoli Vegetable · Cool · 74 days
- Golden Acre Cabbage Vegetable · Cool · 64 days
- Danvers 126 Carrot Vegetable · Shoulder · 70 days
- Italian Flat Leaf Parsley Herb · Shoulder · 75 days
- Hollow Crown Parsnip Vegetable · Cool · 120 days
- Bright Lights Swiss Chard Vegetable · Shoulder · 55 days
- Provider Bush Bean Vegetable · Warm · 50 days
- Golden Bantam Sweet Corn Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Snowball Y Cauliflower Vegetable · Cool · 70 days
- Marketmore 76 Cucumber Vegetable · Warm · 58 days
- Black Beauty Eggplant Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- California Wonder Pepper Vegetable · Warm · 72 days
- Roma Tomato Vegetable · Warm · 76 days
- Sugar Baby Watermelon Vegetable · Warm · 80 days
- Hale's Best Jumbo Melon Vegetable · Warm · 85 days
- Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts Vegetable · Cool · 100 days
- Green Curled Endive Vegetable · Cool · 85 days
- Small Sugar Pumpkin Vegetable · Warm · 100 days
Related regional guides
- Illinois Three-Region Vegetable Garden An Illinois vegetable guide for Northern, Central, and Southern planting-date columns, frost-free ranges, and seasonal crop timing.
- Chicago Area Illinois Vegetable Planting Guide Illinois Extension guide for Chicago-area gardeners using Northern Illinois planting windows with an urban heat caveat against Central Illinois dates.
Source: Illinois Extension McHenry County vegetable garden planting guide