One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Surprise should be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant chinese cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

You can plant chinese cabbage a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Surprise is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chinese cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Surprise. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Surprise is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Surprise you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chinese cabbage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Surprise

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Surprise

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