One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant radicchio is to look at the USDA zone info for Norfolk.

Planting Calendar for Radicchio

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

Since radicchio are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant radicchio in Norfolk 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 radicchio and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your radicchio may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your radicchio indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Norfolk the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Norfolk is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Norfolk it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your radicchio in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Norfolk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Norfolk

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