One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant chicory is to use the USDA zone info for North Manchester.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory can survive in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in North Manchester 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. Any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for North Manchester is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in North Manchester you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your chicory if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Manchester

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 North Manchester

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Manchester.