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

In Alexandria you can determine when it's a good idea to plant chard by looking at 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.

Chard do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Alexandria 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. Any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Alexandria. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Alexandria and it is different every year. Half of the time in Alexandria it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chard if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

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 Alexandria

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