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

By looking at the USDA zone info for Clearlake it's possible to figure out when you can plant lettuce.

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 tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lettuce in Clearlake 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 lettuce and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lettuce may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lettuce indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Clearlake. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Clearlake may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Clearlake it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your lettuce in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Clearlake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Clearlake

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