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

The first chance to plant balsam in Martinez can be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Balsam

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

You can not plant balsam until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant balsam in Martinez 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 balsam and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your balsam may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your balsam indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Martinez. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Martinez may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Martinez there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your balsam if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Martinez

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 Martinez

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