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.

A way of determining when to plant chard is to check out the USDA zone info for Merced.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Chard do well in mild cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Merced 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. Any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your chard indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Merced. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Merced

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merced

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