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.

You will be able to determine when you can plant chard by looking at the USDA zone info for Bernalillo.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Chard tend to make it in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Bernalillo 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 chard and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your chard indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Bernalillo the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bernalillo may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bernalillo you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your chard if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bernalillo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Bernalillo

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