One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant chard is to look at the USDA zone info for Dickinson.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Chard do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Dickinson 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 chard and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Dickinson. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dickinson may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Dickinson you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dickinson

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 Dickinson

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