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.

In San Luis Obispo you can determine when to plant chard by looking at 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.

Chard can survive in mild 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 chard in San Luis Obispo 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in San Luis Obispo. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Luis Obispo is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in San Luis Obispo last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your chard if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for San Luis Obispo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in San Luis Obispo

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Luis Obispo.