One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 making a decision about when you can plant chard is to refer to the USDA zone info for Bellevue.

Planting Calendar for Chard

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

Since chard are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chard in Bellevue 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 chard and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your chard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your chard indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Bellevue. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bellevue may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bellevue you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your chard in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bellevue

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 Bellevue

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