The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant chard is to refer to the USDA zone info for Alameda.

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 bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Alameda 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 chard and expect a good harvest is probably October. 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 little bit earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Alameda. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Alameda is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Alameda you get surprised by a frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your chard if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alameda

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Alameda

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