One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 possible to plant chicory by using the USDA zone info for Reading.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Reading 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chicory may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Reading. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Reading is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Reading last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your chicory if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Reading

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Reading

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