One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for El Centro should be read to determine when it's the best time to plant sweet williams.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

Frost tolerance for sweet williams:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since sweet williams are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams in El Centro is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sweet williams may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your sweet williams indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in El Centro. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 30°F.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate 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 always be ready to protect your sweet williams in the event of 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.