One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 figuring out when it's possible to plant chard is to use the USDA zone info for Austin.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Since chard are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Austin is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chard and expect a good harvest is probably August. 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

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Austin. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Austin is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Austin you get a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your chard if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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