One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Mercer Island you should be able to determine when to plant chinese cabbage.

Planting Calendar for Chinese cabbage

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

Chinese cabbage do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Mercer Island 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. Starting your chinese cabbage indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Mercer Island is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Mercer Island you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your chinese cabbage in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mercer Island

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 Mercer Island

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mercer Island.