One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The best time to plant stocks in Chico can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Stocks

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

Stocks tend to make it in very little cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Chico. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chico is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Chico you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your stocks in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chico

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Chico

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