When to Plant Chard in Spring Valley, IL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Spring Valley you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant chard.


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 bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chard
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chard
Probably not a good time to plant chard

The earliest that you can plant chard in Spring Valley 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Spring Valley. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Spring Valley may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Spring Valley you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your chard if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spring Valley

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 Spring Valley

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spring Valley.