When to Plant Romaine lettuce in Sacramento, CA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Sacramento can be read to figure out when it's a good idea to plant romaine lettuce.


Planting Calendar for Romaine lettuce

Frost tolerance for romaine lettuce: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Romaine lettuce tend to make it in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant romaine lettuce
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant romaine lettuce
Probably not a good time to plant romaine lettuce

The earliest that you can plant romaine lettuce in Sacramento is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant romaine lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your romaine lettuce may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your romaine lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Sacramento. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sacramento and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Sacramento last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your romaine lettuce in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sacramento

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Sacramento

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Sacramento.