One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Orange should be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant chicory.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory tend to make it in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Orange 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your chicory indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Orange the average date of last frost happens on January 31. You can expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Orange is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Orange it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to cover your chicory if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Orange

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 Orange

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