One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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.

In Grosse Pointe you can figure out when it's the best time to plant chard by using 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 means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Grosse Pointe 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Grosse Pointe. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Grosse Pointe is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Grosse Pointe you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grosse Pointe

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 Grosse Pointe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grosse Pointe.