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.

The USDA zone info for Philadelphia should be reffered to in order to determine when it's possible to plant chinese cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

Chinese cabbage can survive in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Philadelphia 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 chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chinese cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Philadelphia. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Philadelphia is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Philadelphia there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your chinese cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Philadelphia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Philadelphia

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