One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 way of determining when it's the best time to plant chinese cabbage is to look at the USDA zone info for Poquoson.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

Since chinese cabbage are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Poquoson 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 chinese cabbage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your chinese cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Poquoson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Poquoson and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Poquoson last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your chinese cabbage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Poquoson

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 Poquoson

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