One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant chard is to refer to the USDA zone info for North Port.

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 tells us that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in North Port 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. Any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for North Port may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in North Port you get a frost 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 North Port

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 North Port

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Port.