One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Charles City it's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant napa cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Napa cabbage

Frost tolerance for napa cabbage:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant napa cabbage much earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant napa cabbage in Charles City 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 napa cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your napa cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your napa cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Charles City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Charles City is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Charles City it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your napa cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charles City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Charles City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Charles City.