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.

You should be able to figure out when to plant chard by using the USDA zone info for Palos Heights.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

You can plant chard a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Palos Heights 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. If you wait any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your chard indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Palos Heights. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Palos Heights may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Palos Heights you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your chard in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Palos Heights

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 Palos Heights

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Palos Heights.