One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when to plant beets is to look at the USDA zone info for Berkeley.

Planting Calendar for Beets

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

Since beets are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant beets in Berkeley 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 beets and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your beets may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your beets indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Berkeley. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Berkeley is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Berkeley you get surprised by a frost after January 31 be ready to cover your beets in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Berkeley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Berkeley

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