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.

In Zone 8a you can estimate when you can plant chinese cabbage by looking at the USDA zone info.

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 little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese cabbage in Zone 8a 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your chinese cabbage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your chinese cabbage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Zone 8a. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 8a is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 8a last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your chinese cabbage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 8a

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 Zone 8a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 8a.