Each month our editor, Laura Lukes, highlights an outstanding plant, an interesting insect, a fun place to visit, a new technique, or helpful tool.
Frost Chart
The National Gardening Association has a handy and well-explained frost chart which will help us all determine when it’s safest to plant our vegetable starts, and how long we can depend on frost-free weather in the fall. This link goes directly to the chart for Chico, and if you scroll down from there you will find links for charts attuned to other towns and cities in Butte County.
Here is an example of the valuable information included in the chart for Chico: “In your average springtime, you have a 90% chance that there will be no 36° nights by May 6. In other words, you can pretty much count on being safe from frost by that day. But we want to get those tomatoes in the ground as soon as possible, right? We see that there's still an 80% chance of 36° on March 28, so we don't dare plant that early. We wait a few days and by April 13 we are at the 50/50 point. At this point, we are close and we can start watching the weather forecast. If the upcoming week's forecast doesn't show below 40°, then it's probably okay to risk planting out your plants.”
Bookmark Frost Dates: First and last frost dates for Chico, California and never lose another vegetable start!
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