One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant sweet potatos is to look at the USDA zone info for Costa Mesa.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Potatos

Frost tolerance for sweet potatos:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since sweet potatos do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sweet potatos in Costa Mesa 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 sweet potatos and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your sweet potatos may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your sweet potatos indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on January 31 in Costa Mesa. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Costa Mesa is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Costa Mesa last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to cover your sweet potatos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Costa Mesa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Costa Mesa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Costa Mesa.