Swiss chard · Serpukhov, Moscow Oblast, Russia
When to plant swiss chard in Serpukhov
Main outdoor window
4-25 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
1 May
In Serpukhov, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
23 Jun - 3 Jul
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 Serpukhov
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
27 Mar - 17 Apr
Five weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow for overwintering
4-25 Jul
Counting back 74 days from your first frost so the crop matures in time.
Sow direct
4-25 May
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 17 Apr, which is too cold for it to start.
Plant out
4-25 May
Held back until the soil is warm enough for this crop. The frost date on its own would say 24 Apr, which is too cold for it to start.
Harvest
23 Jun - 3 Jul
Swiss chard through the year
Against the frost risk in Serpukhov
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 Serpukhov.
With one correction, which is the note at the top of the page: the offset alone would put this crop in soil that is still too cold for it. Where the frost date and the soil temperature disagree, the dates here follow the soil, because a seed in cold ground either rots or waits, and a sowing made a fortnight later usually overtakes it.
The median frost-free season here is 160 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 Serpukhov
Other vegetables to time
Growing swiss chard in Serpukhov
When should I plant swiss chard in Serpukhov?
Aim for 4-25 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 11 May - 1 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
Can I plant swiss chard earlier in Serpukhov?
Frost is finished by about 17 Apr, but the soil is still too cold. Swiss chard will not start until it reaches 10°C (50°F), and here that is around 4 May. Going in earlier usually means seed that rots or transplants that sit and sulk, and a later sowing catches them up.
When will swiss chard be ready to harvest in Serpukhov?
Expect to start picking around 23 Jun - 3 Jul, 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.