One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant chard is to check out the USDA zone info for Derby.

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 Derby is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chard and expect a good harvest is probably September. 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 few weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Derby. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Derby is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Derby last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your chard if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Derby

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Derby

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