Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant chinese cabbage is to examine the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

Chinese cabbage can survive in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Charleston is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your chinese cabbage indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Charleston the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Charleston and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Charleston there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your chinese cabbage if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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