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

In Mokena you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant chard by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Since chard do well in moderate cold 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 Mokena 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 chard and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Mokena. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mokena is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mokena it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your chard in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mokena

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 Mokena

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