The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant chicory is to use the USDA zone info for Melbourne.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Since chicory do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Melbourne 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 really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Melbourne may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Melbourne you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your chicory in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melbourne

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 Melbourne

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