One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Los Altos you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant spinach.

Planting Calendar for Spinach

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

Spinach are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant spinach in Los Altos 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 spinach and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your spinach may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your spinach indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Los Altos the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°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 Los Altos and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Los Altos you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your spinach 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.