One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant chinese cabbage in Ponchatoula can be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

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

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Ponchatoula 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 chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your chinese cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Ponchatoula. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ponchatoula there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your chinese cabbage if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ponchatoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ponchatoula

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