One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By using the USDA zone info for San Francisco it's a good idea to estimate when it's possible to plant cilantro.

Planting Calendar for Cilantro

Frost tolerance for cilantro:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Cilantro tend to make it in mild cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant cilantro in San Francisco is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cilantro and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cilantro may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cilantro indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in San Francisco. It might get as low as 35°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for San Francisco is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in San Francisco it frosts late in the year after January 31 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cilantro in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for San Francisco

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in San Francisco

You may be interested in your other planting guides for San Francisco.