One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

It's possible to estimate when it's the best time to plant chicory by referring to the USDA zone info for Crete.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Since chicory are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Crete 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 chicory and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chicory may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Crete is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Crete it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your chicory if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Crete

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 Crete

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