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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Mount Ephraim it's a good idea to figure out when you can plant chard.

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 just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Mount Ephraim 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. If you wait any later than that and 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 April 15 in Mount Ephraim. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Mount Ephraim and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mount Ephraim there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your chard in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Ephraim

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Mount Ephraim

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Ephraim.