One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 figuring out when to plant chard is to refer to the USDA zone info for Groveland.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Since chard are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Groveland 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. If you wait any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Groveland. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Groveland may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Groveland there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Groveland

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 Groveland

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