Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's the best time to plant chard in Imperial by checking out the USDA zone info.

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 bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Imperial 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. If you wait any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your chard indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Imperial. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Imperial and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Imperial last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Imperial

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 Imperial

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