One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant chinese cabbage is to check out the USDA zone info for Crete.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

Chinese cabbage can survive in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Crete 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 chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chinese cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Crete. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Crete is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Crete you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chinese cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crete

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Crete

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