One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant lettuce is to consult the USDA zone info for Bakersfield.

Planting Calendar for Lettuce

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

Lettuce do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Bakersfield 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your lettuce may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your lettuce indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Bakersfield the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Bakersfield is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bakersfield you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your lettuce in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bakersfield

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 Bakersfield

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