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 way of estimating when to plant endive is to examine the USDA zone info for Chelsea.

Planting Calendar for Endive

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

Endive are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant endive in Chelsea 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 endive and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your endive may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your endive indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chelsea. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Chelsea and it is different every year. Half of the time in Chelsea there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your endive in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chelsea

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Chelsea

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