One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 common way of making a decision about when you can plant chicory is to use the USDA zone info for Austin.

Planting Calendar for Chicory

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

Chicory can survive in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chicory in Austin 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chicory indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Austin the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Austin is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Austin it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your chicory if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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