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.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant purslane in Chester by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Purslane

Frost tolerance for purslane:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Purslane do ok in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant purslane in Chester is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant purslane and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your purslane may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your purslane indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Chester the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Chester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Chester

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