The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when you can plant chard is to use the USDA zone info for San Benito.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Since chard do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chard in San Benito 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chard may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your chard indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in San Benito. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for San Benito may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in San Benito last frost occurs after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your chard in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Benito

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 30°F.

Plants to Grow in San Benito

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Benito.