One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A way of making a decision about when to plant chinese cabbage is to examine the USDA zone info for Pierre.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

You can plant chinese cabbage a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Pierre 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 chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chinese cabbage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Pierre. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Pierre is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Pierre there is a last frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your chinese cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pierre

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

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

Plants to Grow in Pierre

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