Swiss chard · Osorno, Los Lagos Region, Chile
When to plant swiss chard in Osorno
Main outdoor window
28 Aug - 18 Sep
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
11 September
In Osorno, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
17-27 Oct
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 Osorno
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
7-28 Aug
Five weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
1-22 Mar
Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
28 Aug - 18 Sep
Two weeks before your last frost.
Plant out
4-25 Sep
One week before your last frost.
Harvest
17-27 Oct
Swiss chard through the year
Against the frost risk in Osorno
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 Osorno.
The median frost-free season here is 266 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 Osorno
Other vegetables to time
Growing swiss chard in Osorno
When should I plant swiss chard in Osorno?
Aim for 28 Aug - 18 Sep in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 23 Sep - 14 Oct - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will swiss chard be ready to harvest in Osorno?
Expect to start picking around 17-27 Oct, 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.