One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when you can plant potatos is to examine the USDA zone info for Berkeley.

Planting Calendar for Potatos

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

You can plant potatos quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Berkeley is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Berkeley last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your potatos if you have one of those late frosts.

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.