One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 way of figuring out when to plant nasturtium is to examine the USDA zone info for Los Altos.

Planting Calendar for Nasturtium

Frost tolerance for nasturtium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant nasturtium until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant nasturtium in Los Altos is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant nasturtium and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your nasturtium may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your nasturtium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Los Altos. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Los Altos and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Los Altos last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your nasturtium in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Los Altos

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Los Altos

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Los Altos.