One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Arcata you can determine when it's a good idea to plant radicchio by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Radicchio

Frost tolerance for radicchio:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Radicchio do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant radicchio in Arcata 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 radicchio and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your radicchio may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your radicchio indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

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 Arcata and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Arcata you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your radicchio if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Arcata

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Arcata

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