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

It's possible to figure out when you can plant chard by checking out the USDA zone info for Sheldon.

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 bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Sheldon is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chard and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Sheldon the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Sheldon is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Sheldon it frosts late in the year after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your chard in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sheldon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°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 -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Sheldon

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