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.

In Rochester you can figure out when it's the best time to plant chard by looking at 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.

Since chard do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Rochester 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Rochester. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rochester last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your chard if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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