Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Hastings you can estimate when it's the best time to plant chard by checking out 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 are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Hastings 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chard may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Hastings the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Hastings is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Hastings you get a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hastings

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 Hastings

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