One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your 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.

A way of figuring out when you can plant chard is to look at the USDA zone info for Long Beach.

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 tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Long Beach 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on January 31 in Long Beach. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Long Beach is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Long Beach there is a last frost after January 31 so always be ready to protect your chard if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Long Beach

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Long Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Long Beach.