One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when to plant chard by using the USDA zone info for Fultondale.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

You can plant chard a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Fultondale 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. If you wait any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Fultondale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Fultondale is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fultondale it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your chard in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fultondale

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 Fultondale

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