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

In Imperial you can figure out when you can plant alternaria by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Alternaria

Frost tolerance for alternaria:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably not a good idea to plant alternaria until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant alternaria in Imperial 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 alternaria and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alternaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your alternaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Imperial is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Imperial it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your alternaria in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Imperial

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 Imperial

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Imperial.