Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 estimate when it's possible to plant chicory by referring to the USDA zone info for Sterling.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Sterling 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your chicory indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Sterling is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Sterling it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to protect your chicory if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

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 Sterling

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