One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 determine when it's the best time to plant chard by looking at the USDA zone info for Sparks.

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 bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sparks. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sparks is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Sparks you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your chard in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sparks

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 Sparks

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