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.

In El Centro you can determine when you can plant mustard by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mustard

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

Mustard are not cold tolerant which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mustard 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 mustard and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your mustard may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your mustard indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for El Centro is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in El Centro it frosts late in the year after January 31 be ready to cover your mustard if you have a surprise late frost.

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.