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 common way of figuring out when to plant ruby grass is to consult the USDA zone info for El Centro.

Planting Calendar for Ruby Grass

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

Ruby Grass do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant ruby grass 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 ruby grass and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your ruby grass may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your ruby grass indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

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.

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 protect your ruby grass 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.