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.

In Leesburg you can determine when it's a good idea to plant chard by using 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 are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Leesburg 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 grow to maturity. If you are starting your chard indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Leesburg. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Leesburg and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Leesburg there is a last frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Leesburg

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 Leesburg

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