One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant chard is to check out the USDA zone info for Battle Creek.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Chard do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Battle Creek 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. If you wait 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 all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Battle Creek. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Battle Creek and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Battle Creek last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your chard in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Battle Creek

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Battle Creek

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Battle Creek.