Swiss chard · Brooklyn, New York, United States
When to plant swiss chard in Brooklyn
Main outdoor window
15 Mar - 5 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 March
In Brooklyn, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
4-14 May
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Brooklyn
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
22 Feb - 15 Mar
Five weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
29 Aug - 19 Sep
Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
15 Mar - 5 Apr
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
22 Mar - 12 Apr
One week before your last frost.
Harvest
4-14 May
Swiss chard through the year
Against the frost risk in Brooklyn
Why these dates
One spring sowing usually lasts until hard frost. In mild climates it overwinters and produces an early spring flush before bolting.
Takes -5C without protection. Under a cloche it will hold through much colder weather and resume growth in late winter.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Swiss chard are timed from 5 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 1 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Brooklyn.
The median frost-free season here is 249 days, against 50 to 60 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Brooklyn
Other vegetables to time
Growing swiss chard in Brooklyn
When should I plant swiss chard in Brooklyn?
Aim for 15 Mar - 5 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 25 Mar - 15 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will swiss chard be ready to harvest in Brooklyn?
Expect to start picking around 4-14 May, based on 50 to 60 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will swiss chard tolerate?
Takes -5C without protection. Under a cloche it will hold through much colder weather and resume growth in late winter.