One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant clover is to refer to the USDA zone info for El Centro.

Planting Calendar for Clover

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

Clover tend to make it in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant clover in El Centro 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 clover and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your clover may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your clover indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in El Centro. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for El Centro and it is different every year. Half of the time in El Centro there is a last frost after January 31 so be sure to be ready to protect your clover if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for El Centro

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 El Centro

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Centro.