Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. 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 estimate when it's a good idea to plant salsify by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Salsify

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

Since salsify are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant salsify 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 salsify and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your salsify may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your salsify indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind 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 changes from year to year. Half of the time in El Centro it frosts late in the year after January 31 so be sure to be ready to cover your salsify in the event of 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.