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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Merced you should be able to figure out when it's possible to plant dill.

Planting Calendar for Dill

Frost tolerance for dill:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Dill do ok in moderate cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant dill in Merced 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 dill and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your dill may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your dill indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Merced. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Merced and it is different every year. Half of the time in Merced you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so always be ready to cover your dill in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Merced

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merced

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