When to Plant Chard in Rapid City, SD

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 first opportunity to plant chard in Rapid City can be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

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Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Chard are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chard
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chard
Probably not a good time to plant chard

The earliest that you can plant chard in Rapid City 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chard may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Rapid City. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rapid City 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 Rapid City you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your chard if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

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 Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.